International SIM card fraud syndicate had already been smashed by thane police, who also say that stock trading fraud and other cyber crimes are taking place in countries such as Dubai, Cambodia and China.
According to Parag Manere, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Thane) for Cyber Crime and EOW, three persons from Chhattisgarh and one person from Delhi have been arrested in this connection while 779 pre-activated tickets were seized from them. Indeed the SIM cards were activated.
He said the police suspected that approximately 3000 SIM cards have been used in a similar manner.
In Maharashtra’s Thane district alone, officials said there are 16 cases under investigation; they discovered these crimes through WhatsApp messages sent out of Chhattisgarh State, Tripura State and others. Some locally active 30 mobiles and nearly 2600 SIM Cards.
The official said after verification, the numbers were activated through WhatsApp IP Hong Kong.
Police found that some of the suspects used certain SIM cards and handsets from Chhattisgarh during investigations into a particular case of fraud worth Rs.2.93 crore.
Aftab Irshad Debar (aged 22 years) & Manishkumar Mohit Deshmukh (aged 27 years), both from Chhattisgarh were arrested on July 5 for involvement with this incident with possession of an additional 779 pre-activated sim cards along with laptop, two WiFi – Fi Router ,23 Cell Phones, 50 Debit Cards/Cell Phones. They later arrested him as per his statement.
These vendors collected their customer’s biometric fingerprints to defraud them by selling simcards to members within the organization itself.
According to sources in the police department, these simcards would be activated at a later date when all money transfers had taken place successfully.
They further disclosed that associates of those apprehended lived in Raipur, Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) and Delhi to supply SIM cards to criminals in Cambodia, Dubai, China and other countries, who ultimately used them in their own countries. Cards used for cyber crimes.
Also, the accused persons had informed that abroad approximately 3000 simcards had been sent through the same way.
Further investigation showed that around six bank accounts were connected with these sim cards which revealed a huge financial fraud racket run by it.
Additionally, police discovered 14 similar cases in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Telangana and Gujarat; this information was obtained via the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
Members of this group include those from Raipur, Bilaspur (in Chhattisgarh) apart from Delhi where they take SIM cards to be supplied to Cambodia, Dubai or China among others before being used domestically inside such countries for committing these online offences.
