BHUBANESWAR: Acting on a tip-off by the Department of Telecommunications, the Cyber Police Station of Odisha Crime Branch on Tuesday unearthed a SIM box racket in Mayurbhanj district. Six people, including the mastermind of the inter-state gang, have been arrested.
The accused have been identified as Vishal Khandelwal, Tapas Kumar Patra, Nigam Patra, Sudhanshu Das, Aju Patra and Ajay Kumar Patra. Several pre-activated SIM cards and other illegal telephone exchange equipment have been seized from the accused.
“The Department of Telecommunications informed us that a large number of SIMs are being used in SIM boxes to dupe people in different parts of the country. A large number of KYC related fraud messages were generated from these SIM boxes and sent to people for fraudulent purposes. The gang members are active in Bihar and Odisha,” said a crime branch official.
The mastermind behind this incident is Khandelwal alias Jonty. He had bought SIM boxes and hired Tapas to send fake messages to people using the pre-activated SIM supplied by Sudhansu and Nigam.
“The main job of the arrested gang members was to send fake KYC related messages while their counterparts from Bihar were fraudulently withdrawing money from the accounts of those who had fallen prey to the messages,” the official said.
Usually each SIM box made in China can hold up to 60 fake SIM cards that can route international calls. A person abroad can call a local number from the same country, which will be routed to another number in India and then to the intended call recipient. This illegal practice helps the caller to avoid international tariffs, leading to loss of revenue to the government.
One such racket was busted by Odisha Police in July 2017 in Berhampur. The police then arrested four persons for running an illegal telephone exchange with the help of SIM boxes in Berhampur at the behest of underworld don Chhota Rajan. The members of Rajan’s gang had demanded extortion of Rs 2 crore from a Mumbai builder using the telephone exchange.
The accused have been identified as Vishal Khandelwal, Tapas Kumar Patra, Nigam Patra, Sudhanshu Das, Aju Patra and Ajay Kumar Patra. Several pre-activated SIM cards and other illegal telephone exchange equipment have been seized from the accused.
“The Department of Telecommunications informed us that a large number of SIMs are being used in SIM boxes to dupe people in different parts of the country. A large number of KYC related fraud messages were generated from these SIM boxes and sent to people for fraudulent purposes. The gang members are active in Bihar and Odisha,” said a crime branch official.
The mastermind behind this incident is Khandelwal alias Jonty. He had bought SIM boxes and hired Tapas to send fake messages to people using the pre-activated SIM supplied by Sudhansu and Nigam.
“The main job of the arrested gang members was to send fake KYC related messages while their counterparts from Bihar were fraudulently withdrawing money from the accounts of those who had fallen prey to the messages,” the official said.
Usually each SIM box made in China can hold up to 60 fake SIM cards that can route international calls. A person abroad can call a local number from the same country, which will be routed to another number in India and then to the intended call recipient. This illegal practice helps the caller to avoid international tariffs, leading to loss of revenue to the government.
One such racket was busted by Odisha Police in July 2017 in Berhampur. The police then arrested four persons for running an illegal telephone exchange with the help of SIM boxes in Berhampur at the behest of underworld don Chhota Rajan. The members of Rajan’s gang had demanded extortion of Rs 2 crore from a Mumbai builder using the telephone exchange.