Khammam Police Join Investigation Into Alleged Cyber Fraud Kingpin's Money Laundering Network
In a significant development in the ongoing cyber fraud investigation, Khammam police have now launched a parallel probe into alleged money laundering activities connected to Potru Praveen, who was already under the scanner of Cyberabad police authorities. The investigation focuses specifically on suspected laundering of proceeds from Australian scam victims through locally sourced bank accounts in the Khammam district.
Expanding Investigation Across Police Jurisdictions
While Cyberabad cyber crime police initially registered a case against Praveen on November 28 last year for operating a fraudulent call center under the guise of Ridge IT Solutions, it was the VM Banjar police of Khammam commissionerate who made the first arrest in the first week of January. Investigators from both jurisdictions are now collaborating to examine Praveen's alleged role in utilizing bank accounts opened by local residents to launder money obtained from Australian victims of a sophisticated call center scam operated from Ayyappa Society.
"The accused used the bank accounts obtained from local people for cyber frauds," stated Kalluru Vasundhara Yadav, ACP of Kalluru sub-division. "The accounts are linked to hundreds of cyber fraud cases registered across the country. The case is under investigation, and we are collecting more details about the fraud."
Complex Web of Deception and Financial Manipulation
According to police officials, Praveen and seventeen other individuals were arrested for allegedly deceiving unsuspecting individuals into opening bank accounts and sharing access credentials. These compromised accounts were then systematically employed to launder proceeds from various cyber fraud operations. Cyberabad police have formally requested case details from their Khammam counterparts to verify whether these local bank accounts were specifically utilized to process crime proceeds originating from Australian victims.
Investigators revealed that Praveen, along with his cousin Prakash, both natives of Khammam, established Ridge IT Solutions in Ayyappa Society in 2024. They recruited Y Ganesh and M Chenna Keshava, also from Khammam, to manage the call center operations, while hiring seven telecallers from West Bengal to impersonate software company employees and target Australian citizens.
Sophisticated Malware-Based Scam Methodology
Police detailed a sophisticated scam operation where the accused targeted visitors to specific websites, including adult content portals, by deploying pop-up alerts falsely claiming their operating systems were infected with malware. These alerts urged victims to call a displayed number, which connected them to telecallers operating from the Ayyappa Society facility.
"The accused made the victims install a remote desktop application under the pretext of scanning and fixing the malware problem," explained an investigator. "They then directed victims to complete bank transactions for purported service charges while recording their internet banking details. Using these compromised Australian banking credentials, the accused initially transferred funds to Australian bank accounts, primarily belonging to Indian nationals, before employing various methods to ultimately encash the money in India."
Authorities strongly suspect that Indian bank accounts obtained from victims in Khammam were integral to laundering these crime proceeds, creating a complex transnational financial trail.
Legal Proceedings and Investigative Challenges
Praveen, currently out on bail in the VM Banjar case, had previously obtained pre-arrest bail from the high court in the Cyberabad case on December 11, 2025. The court noted several factors in granting bail, including that Praveen was named as an accused primarily based on co-accused confessional statements, his absence from the scene during the raid, and the absence of recorded victim statements at that time. The court did mandate his cooperation with ongoing investigations.
A Khammam police source indicated that some absconding accused in the VM Banjar police station case are also attempting to secure pre-arrest bail, complicating investigative efforts. "The accused are not cooperating with the probe," revealed an investigator. "We are relying on bank transaction analysis to uncover how they executed this elaborate fraud."
Background information reveals that Potru Praveen is a graduate who worked in the United Kingdom for several years before allegedly transitioning to cyber fraud activities in recent years. The expanding investigation now spans multiple police jurisdictions and involves complex financial forensics to unravel the full extent of this alleged transnational cyber fraud and money laundering network.
