2 men from Hyderabad charged for fraud in Scotland – Times of India

LONDON: Two Telugu men from Hyderabad, one of whom played for the Hyderabad under-19 cricket team, are among a group of seven people accused in Scotland of running a massive fraud scheme in which a Scottish millionaire from South Lanarkshire was scammed out of her fortune.

The elderly victim had more than a million pounds stolen between May and August. The six men, who include Umar Mohammed and Sunil Theyath, both from Hyderabad, and a 34-year-old woman, were arrested and charged on December 14.

They have been named in the high-value fraud following a joint investigation by Police Scotland, police in Essex, London and Eastbourne and the National Crime Agency. The arrests took place in Eastbourne, Stansted, Dagenham and East Ham in London.

The modus operandi of the group has not yet been made public as the trial is on. Sources in the British Telugu community said that some Indian students were said to be involved in the scam as they had given their bank accounts and credit cards to the accused before returning to India.

Theyath and Mohammed are both known figures in the British Telugu community. The arrests took place after the elderly woman in South Lanarkshire had a seven-figure sum stolen in pounds, Police Scotland said.

Mukesh Vippanapelli, 41, from Dagenham, East London; Vageesan Sunmugaraja, 50, from Ilford, East London; Sunil Theyath, 39, from Romford, East London; and Hafeeza Samreen, 34, and, Umar Mohammed, 39, both from Eastbourne, East Sussex, appeared at Airdrie Sheriff Court in Aidrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland on December 18. They did not enter a plea and were all remanded in custody, according to Scottish media outlet STV News which covered the hearing.

All face a single charge of being involved with a fraudulent scheme. Two other men, aged 23 and 28 years, charged with the same scam, will appear at court at a later date.

According to his Facebook page, Mohammed had been a student at the University of Sunderland and Oxford Business College and Theyath went to the Anwarul-Uloom College of Engineering and Technology.