LUCKNOW, July 17 -- Aspirations for a flashy lifestyle, quick money, and social media-driven notions of success prompted several Lucknow youths to become ground-level agents in an international cyber fraud racket linked to Chinese handlers, Brijesh Yadav, station-house officer, Cyber Crime police station, said, who led Wednesday's crackdown.

Investigators found that the young men, aged 19 to 21, were lured through Telegram job groups and tasked with laundering Rs.1.77 crore through multiple bank accounts. The scam proceeds were converted into USDT (Tether (USDT)) cryptocurrency and routed abroad under the instructions of overseas operatives. "One of the accused said he got involved in funding outings with his girlfriend, while another ci...