A high-stakes cyber fraud operation run by barely-educated youth from a Lucknow penthouse duped over 2.5 lakh people across South India, siphoning off ₹500 crore through fake gaming apps. With links to Sri Lanka, Dubai, and Singapore, the bust has exposed the terrifying global reach of India’s emerging cybercrime underworld.
The Game Plan
In an unprecedented cybercrime revelation, the Uttar Pradesh Police have uncovered a ₹500-crore fraud racket operated by a group of 12th-pass youths from a luxury penthouse in Lucknow’s Vrindavan Colony. Over 2.5 lakh unsuspecting victims across South India were allegedly duped using fake mobile gaming apps, in what authorities are calling one of the most elaborate digital scams in recent memory.
The epicentre of this high-tech heist? A makeshift call center, not in Bengaluru or Hyderabad, but in a quiet residential part of Lucknow, a place far removed from the scam’s southern targets.
At the heart of the operation was a slick-looking gaming app named ‘Anna Reddy’, designed to entice users with the promise of small rewards for simple games. Once hooked, users, mostly from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka, started betting small sums ranging from ₹1,000 to ₹3,000. However, the platform was rigged. No one ever won. Instead of fair play, an algorithm quietly drained players’ wallets. Victims assumed they were simply unlucky. Because the losses were relatively small, most never filed complaints, a clever ploy by the scam’s masterminds.
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The Frontline: Teenage Operatives on ₹20,000 Salary
Police arrested 15 youths aged between 18 and 23, most of whom had no formal tech education and were recruited from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh. Each was paid a fixed salary of ₹20,000 with commissions for every 100 successful cons. They operated like a customer service team, responding to user queries and complaints to maintain the illusion of legitimacy.
The penthouse itself was fitted with 70 smartphones, 11 laptops, and over 230 financial instruments, including debit cards, passbooks, chequebooks, and SIM cards.
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The Mastermind: A Sri Lankan Personnel and a Dubai Connection
According to investigators, the local operations were headed by Vishal Yadav, alias Ganni or Prince, who coordinated the group from Dubai. The real kingpin, however, remains at large, a Sri Lanka-based operator believed to have previously run similar frauds out of Singapore and the UAE. This man, whose identity police are still verifying, orchestrated operations remotely, ensuring that the entire network remained decentralized and difficult to trace.
Police are now analyzing international bank transactions, air travel logs, and digital communication trails to pin down the top-tier of the syndicate.
One of the more chilling takeaways from the case is the ease with which undereducated youth have adapted to cyber fraud, transforming from job seekers to digital criminals with global reach. The case also underscores how cybercrime has evolved: from phishing emails to highly customised apps targeting specific regions, cultures, and behaviours.
About the author – Prakriti Jha is a student at National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, currently pursuing B.Sc. LL.B (Hons.) with a keen interest in the intersection of law and data science. She is passionate about exploring how legal frameworks adapt to the evolving challenges of technology and justice.