Sanathnagar Government Employee Defrauded of Rs 2.22 Crore in Fake Investment Scam

A government employee residing in Sanathnagar, Hyderabad, was defrauded of Rs 2.22 crore after being lured into a fake online investment scheme promoted through social media advertisements. The incident was reported on June 14, 2026, after the victim realized he had been duped and filed a complaint with the police.

According to the police, the cyber fraud began when the victim came across investment-related advertisements on Facebook. The advertisements promised high returns on investments, which prompted the victim to express his interest.

Following this, unidentified cyber fraudsters contacted the government employee. They successfully convinced him to join their investment platforms and added him to multiple WhatsApp groups. The victim was led to believe that these groups were managed by professional financial experts and market analysts.

Once the cyber criminals gained the victim’s confidence, they persuaded him to invest large sums of money in multiple stages. Believing the investment scheme to be completely genuine, the employee transferred a total of Rs 2.22 crore to various bank accounts provided by the fraudsters.

To keep the victim invested in the scheme, the scammers used a fake investment application. The dashboard of this application displayed a fictitious balance of nearly Rs 3.1 crore, making the victim believe that his initial investments had generated massive profits.

The fraud was eventually exposed when the victim attempted to withdraw his earnings. Instead of processing the withdrawal, the fraudsters demanded that he make additional payments. They claimed these extra charges were necessary for taxes, processing fees, and other administrative costs.

At this point, the victim realized he had been cheated. He refused to pay any more money and approached the police, who subsequently registered a case and launched an investigation.