150 Complaints, Rs 95 Lakh Stolen: Ex-Bank Employee Arrested For Cyber Fraud In Telangana

A 25-year-old Maharashtra man with previous experience working at Axis Bank has been arrested in Telangana's Adilabad city for allegedly posing as a bank official and cheating customers by obtaining their credit card and bank account details and one-time passwords (OTPs).

The accused, Chaitanya Pramod Kute, a native of Akola district in Maharashtra and currently residing in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, was arrested by a police team in Maharashtra.

Police said Kute allegedly used his previous experience of dealing with bank customers to make his calls appear genuine.

"He collected mobile numbers of bank customers and subsequently contacted them using different SIM cards and mobile phones while impersonating bank officials,'' said District Superintendent of Police Akhil Mahaja.

According to police, the accused would tell customers that their credit cards required activation or verification. He allegedly persuaded victims to disclose credit card and bank account details and then obtained OTPs during the calls.

''Stolen money was subsequently transferred through various UPI and Amazon-linked accounts. To avoid detection, Kute allegedly kept changing mobile phones and SIM cards,'' SP Akhil Mahajan added.

Police also said he admitted during questioning to destroying a mobile phone allegedly used in the fraud.

The case came to light after Prafull Patil of Brahmanawada, Adilabad, received a call on July 23, 2026, from a person claiming to represent HDFC Bank.

The caller allegedly offered to activate his credit card and obtained confidential information and OTPs. Five transactions were then carried out, resulting in a loss of Rs 73,279, police said.

The investigation began after Patil's complaint, with technical evidence available through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) helping police identify the suspect.

A special team subsequently travelled to Maharashtra and apprehended Kute.

Police said around 150 complaints from Telangana, Maharashtra and Goa have been linked to the accused through the NCRP, involving reported losses of approximately Rs 95.33 lakh.

A Toyota Hyryder, Apple iPhone 13, Moto G67 and several SIM cards were seized.