Hyderabad: A 33-year-old businessman from AC Guards has lodged a complaint with the Hyderabad Cyber Crime police alleging that he lost over Rs73 lakh to an organised online betting racket operating through a network of mirror websites.
Based on the complaint, police registered a case under Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act; Sections 318(4) (cheating) and 319(2) (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita; and Sections 3 and 4 of the Telangana Gaming Act on Saturday.
In his complaint filed on Feb 14, the victim stated that fraudsters, posing as tele-callers and customer support executives of an online portal named ‘BetInExchange’, lured him into betting on cricket matches, teen patti, and casino games between Jan 2025 and Jan 2026. He was then redirected to allied websites – BetInExchange247, FunInExchange, FunInMatch 360, and Funinmatch555 – with assurances that he could recover his losses.
The accused initially credited over Rs20 lakh to his betting account, according to the victim. However, when he attempted to withdraw larger amounts, his access was blocked. The victim alleged that each time a website was blocked or shut down, the fraudsters redirected users to new mirror domains and continued the scheme.