Hyderabad/IBNS: The Hyderabad Police has unearthed a mega fraud scam involving Chinese handlers in which at least 15,000 Indians were duped of over Rs. 700 crore in less than a year.

According to reports, the money was routed to China via Dubai and some of it was also sent to an account operated by the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah.

"We are alerting Central agencies regarding this and the cyber crime unit of the Union home ministry has been given the details. It is quite shocking and surprising that even highly paid software professionals have lost as much as Rs. 82 lakh," Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand told NDTV.

Anand said the police suspect that a part of the money was converted into cryptocurrency and deposited into a wallet operated by Hezbollah.

Nine people have been arrested so far of whom four are from Hyderabad, three from Mumbai and two from Ahmedabad.

The police are on the lookout for at least six more. 

The cyber crime branch of the Hyderabad police, which began investigating the case in April after being approached by a person who said he had been conned of Rs. 28 lakh, found that people were lured in the name of investment-cum-part-time-jobs.

They were asked to do simple tasks, such as liking YouTube videos or writing Google reviews, and were paid for completing them.