The Return of the Underworld

• The Don in Digital Mask
• The Return of the Underworld

In the 1990s, headlines screamed about underworld dons being busted and gang wars ending. For many, it felt like organised crime was on the decline—replaced by formal economies, regulations, and modern policing. But fast forward to 2025, and the underworld has not vanished. It has evolved—gone digital, invisible, and far more dangerous.

In cities like Hyderabad, crime has moved off the streets and into the cloud. “The old dons had muscle and guns,” says a senior investigator in Hyderabad’s cyber-crime unit. “The new dons have malware, SIM cards, and shell bank accounts.” Today’s criminal networks are fluid, borderless, and harder to track than ever—and the data confirms the threat is growing.

Hyderabad’s underworld is no longer about turf and bullets. It’s about bytes, encryption, and money that vanishes before anyone can trace it. The game has changed—and the stakes have never been higher.

Hyderabad & Telangana: The New Crime Hotspots

According to the most recent report from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Telangana logged 18,236 cyber-crime cases in 2023 the highest of any state. Within that, the capital Hyderabad is a major node in 2023, the city alone registered over 4,000 cyber-crime cases, covering everything from financial fraud, identity theft, forgery to scams.

Hyderabad’s share of national cyber frauds and digital-scams is growing rapidly. In 2024, citizens in the city reportedly lost a staggering ₹385 crore to digital fraudsters.

In 2025 so far is even more telling. A mid-year crackdown by the Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police arrested 25 individuals linked to 453 cyber-fraud cases across India, of which 66 impacted Telangana.

That operation alone led to the partial recovery and refund of amounts offering victims a glimmer of relief, but also showing how deeply digital crime networks are embedded across multiple states.

The state police themselves have now started maintaining “history-sheets” to track repeat offenders operating via social media, fake trading apps, loan-fraud tools and shell-account networks.  In short, the underworld in Hyderabad didn’t vanish — it migrated to your smartphone.

From Guns & Gangs to Scams & Shell Accounts — The New Crime Anatomy

What does this new underworld look like?

• Investment & trading scams: Fake apps promising high returns, bogus stock-trading platforms, fraudulent “crypto opportunities.” In 2024–25 these accounted for some of the largest losses in the city.
• Digital-arrest / impersonation scams: Scammers posing as law-enforcement, court officials or bank agents, threatening arrests or penalties — often coercing victims into transferring money. These “scare-tactics” exploit fear, not force.
• Global cyber-fraud rings: Recent police action revealed networks that recruit young people (sometimes from smaller towns around Hyderabad), lure them with promises of foreign jobs, and re-deploy them in scam call-centres or online fraud operations.
• Money-laundering through shell companies & mule accounts: Seized SIM cards, debit cards, passbooks and bank statements from recent raids show a pattern — woven networks built to wash ill-gotten money, across states.
• Admixture with legacy crimes: While digital scams dominate, traditional crime has not disappeared. Illegal arms-trafficking, pipeline-theft syndicates, land-forgery gangs, and inter-state criminal networks have resurfaced — sometimes aided by encrypted communication and fake identity tools.
• Combined, these trends form a hybrid underworld part cyber-fraud network, part traditional criminal syndicate, part global money-laundering chain.

As a criminologist familiar with Hyderabad’s evolving crime scene summarizes. “Today’s underworld doesn’t hit you with bullets. It empties your bank account  while you sleep.”

Why This Shift? What Enabled the Underworld’s Digital Makeover?

Rapid Digital Penetration + Easy Money Flow

Smartphones, UPI transfers, online trading apps these opened financial doors for millions. But the same infrastructure became a playground for scammers. Minimal KYC, anonymous bank accounts, shell companies all combine to make tracking extremely difficult.

Trans-State & International Networks

Many recent raids show accused individuals being arrested from outside Telangana, yet involved in scams targeting Hyderabad and other metros. Global links via call-centres abroad, money-laundering across borders add layers of protection for perpetrators. Studies like the recent “cyber-slavery infrastructures” research show how vulnerable youth are trafficked into digital crime dens abroad, then launder profits back home.

Outdated Legal Frameworks vs. Evolving Crime Tools

Many laws were designed for 20th-century crime: theft, smuggling, physical violence. But digital frauds phishing, identity theft, fake apps, deepfakes, offshore laundering often sit in legal grey zones, giving criminals time, space and ambiguity.

Social Engineering & Psychological Manipulation

Scams today exploit not force, but fear, greed and desperation. Fake job offers, investment hype, fake arrests they prey on hope and panic. As one Hyderabad cyber-cop warns:

“They don’t need guns or muscle. They just need a convincing WhatsApp message and a bank-transfer link.”

Enforcement Is Fighting Back — But Can It Keep Up?

There is action. The Telangana Police has recently inaugurated 7 new Zonal Cyber Cells (ZCCs) across Hyderabad city one for each zone to handle rising petitions and streamline fraud complaints.

In 2025 alone, these teams have processed thousands of petitions, registered hundreds of FIRs, seized digital evidence (mobile phones, SIM cards, bank pass-books) and recovered small but significant amounts for victims.