Ibomma Ravi gets entangled in 3 fresh cyber fraud cases

Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police plan to produce the prime accused Immadi Ravi, the mastermind of the iBomma piracy racket, in court for three additional cyber fraud cases linked to broader online scam networks targeting the city. These cases stem from Prisoner Transfer (PT) warrants issued during ongoing investigations into Ravi’s operations, which directed users from piracy sites to illegal betting apps, including 1win and 1xbet, thereby facilitating financial fraud.

Ravi, a 39-year-old native of Visakhapatnam and a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis, launched iBomma in 2019, utilising servers in the US, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Police arrested him on 15 November from a Kukatpally apartment after seizing hard drives with 21,000 pirated films across languages, data on 50 lakh users, and Rs 3 crore cash; he allegedly earned Rs 20 crore overall.

He managed 110 domains and 65 mirror sites, evading blocks via Telegram-sourced content and Cloudflare hosting.

Investigators linked Ravi to cyber fraud by redirecting nearly 5 million iBomma visitors monthly to betting platforms via pop-ups and APK downloads, leading to OTP scams and digital arrests. The PT warrants target three such cases, with police securing custody extensions, including three days on 27 November, to grill him on betting ties and associate Nikhil’s role. Ravi admitted to promoting these apps, posing risks to users’ data and finances.

Five piracy cases under the Copyright and IT Acts were initially filed, with Ravi remanded to 14-day judicial custody on 25 November after five-day police questioning revealed money trails and frozen Rs 3.5 crore in 35 accounts. Police aim to seize properties bought with illicit gains and probe international accomplices; the Telugu film industry lost Rs 3,700 crore to such piracy in 2024. Commissioner V C Sajjanar warned users of data theft vulnerabilities on these sites.