Hyderabad, March 2026: The Telangana cybercrime police arrested 117 suspects during a large crackdown on cyber fraud networks under Operation Octopus. The arrests were made across multiple states during coordinated raids conducted in February.
Authorities said the accused were involved in providing mule bank accounts to criminals operating cyber fraud schemes from abroad.
Special teams conducted raids in several states as part of Operation Octopus. A total of 117 suspects were arrested during the operation. Police said the majority of the cases were related to investment fraud.
Among the identified offences, 63 cases were linked to investment fraud. Other cases included six digital arrest frauds, four OTP frauds, and one social media fraud case.
Police officials also confirmed that Rs 34.76 lakh was refunded to victims during the previous month.
Additional Commissioner of Police Crimes M Srinivas said the suspects arrested in the operation were linked to 1,081 cases registered across India. Investigators found that transactions worth Rs 139 crore had passed through the bank accounts associated with the accused.
During the raids, police seized several items including Rs 36 lakh in cash, 221 mobile phones, 26 laptops, 115 cheque books, 141 SIM cards and 54 debit cards. Authorities also confiscated stamps of 56 shell companies, a cash counting machine, 152 passbooks, five trade licences, six audit reports and three ledgers.
Officials said the zonal cyber cells received 2,963 petitions last month. Based on these complaints, police registered 461 FIRs. In those cases, 11 suspects were arrested from different parts of the country.
Victims were refunded Rs 24.10 lakh in those cases, according to police.
Cybercrime teams also conducted continuous cyber patrolling and intelligence tracking. Investigators identified 124 Facebook and Instagram profiles promoting online betting and gaming applications.
Authorities said these profiles were running 539 paid advertisements aimed at attracting young users to betting and gaming platforms. Police requested social media companies to remove the profiles and the accounts were taken down.
Through the C Mitra support system, guidance was provided to 2,396 cyber fraud victims last month to help them register complaints. Based on those complaints, police issued 257 zero FIRs.
Officials advised victims of cyber fraud to immediately contact the national cybercrime helpline number 1930. Complaints can also be filed through the official cybercrime portal.
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