[Watch] 3 Arrested With Over 19K Pre-Activated SIM Cards In Odisha; Check The Gang’s Modus Operandi

Cuttack: The Crime Branch (CB) on Sunday arrested three cybercriminals, including the main accused Dushmanta Sahu, from Odisha’s Dhenkanal and seized a whopping 19641 SIM cards.

The raid also led to the recovery of Rs 14 lakh in cash, 48 mobile phones, fingerprint scanner, credit cards, debit cards, passbooks, a laptop, 440 passport size photos, 394 voter ID cards, 5 Aadhaar cards, 11 QR code boards and 108 customer application forms.

The other accused have been identified as Sai Prakash Das, Avinash Nayak and Dushmanta Sahu of Nadiali village in Dhenkanal district.

The agency initial got information about a WhatsApp account of a particular phone number with the profile picture of a popular person. It was then found that the number was being used consecutively on three different mobile phones at Talabarkot village in Dhenkanal district. The probe further revealed a shop namely ‘Sky Arts’ was selling pre-activated SIM cards. Das and Nayak were the proprietor and his co-worker of the shop, respectively.

Briefing the media on the gang’s modus operandi and the arrests, CB ADG, Sanjeeb Panda said that they facilitated the opening of fake accounts/wallets in various online shopping and gaming apps. “Dushmanat had joined a group “Buyer Seller of OTP” through Facebook. He received pre-activated SIMs of BSNL, JIO, Vodafone, Airtel from Das and Nayak and shared these in the group.  He charged Rs 400 per SIM and OTP,” he said.

“A detailed financial investigation will be conducted as it is suspected that the gang had links with cyber fraudsters in other parts of the country,” he added.