Ahmedabad: The police claimed to have busted an international cybercrime network allegedly operating across India, China, Pakistan and Hong Kong.
This happened after a Rs 1.5-crore WhatsApp-based ‘boss scam’ in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
More than 10,000 devices, alleged to have been used for such scams have been seized the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch and two key SIM-and-OTP suppliers were arrested from West Bengal
The investigation has also revealed links to a call centre in Islamabad and cyber infrastructure associated with China and Hong Kong, the police said.
Imran Ali Piyada and Injammul Molla, who were arrested from West Bengal, were traced through technical analysis, according to a release issued by the Cyber Crime Branch.
Investigations first started in June after an Ahmedabad-based businessman was allegedly duped of Rs 1.5 crore by fraudsters impersonated officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), who later posed as senior officials of his company.
An unidentified person sent a ZIP file to the complainant’s mobile number via WhatsApp on June 23, claiming there were “unusual transaction activities” in the company’s bank account and warning of possible restrictions or suspension by the RBI’s Risk Control Department.
The crooks then posed as the company owner and allegedly instructed the accountant to transfer Rs 1.5 crore to a bank account, the Cyber Crime Branch said, as reported by News18.
Rs 1.13 crore of the defrauded amount was recovered after the complainant reported the fraud through the cybercrime helpline 1930, officials said.
The police then used technical analysis of mobile numbers and arrested Piyada from West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas and Molla from Kolkata. Multiple electronic devices were seized from the accused, including equipment capable of operating four SIM cards simultaneously.
Piyada, a Point of Sale (POS) agent for telecom operators, allegedly misused customers’ biometric fingerprints to obtain SIM cards and activate numbers without their knowledge. These numbers and WhatsApp accounts were then allegedly supplied to cybercriminals, the police said.
The accused had procured around 4,500 SIM cards allegedly for cybercrime operations, the investigators came to know.
Piyada had allegedly supplied around 21,000 OTPs for e-commerce and online gaming applications over five years, earning more than Rs 21 lakh. He allegedly supplied around 900 OTPs used to activate WhatsApp accounts, earning over Rs 2.25 lakh, officials said.
Molla allegedly coordinated with people involved in cyber fraud and helped provide mobile numbers, dummy SIM cards and WhatsApp-based communication systems.
When the police examined the mobile numbers allegedly supplied by the accused, the scale of the operation emerged.
The Ahmedabad Police said that 252 complaints across 26 states have been linked to nearly 4,500 SIM cards allegedly supplied by the duo. These include 194 online financial fraud complaints and three boss scam cases, apart from complaints related to social media, hacking and other cyber offences.
Anupam Singh Gehlot, commissioner of police, Ahmedabad, said the accused had allegedly been operating for four to five years.
“These individuals procured SIM cards and provided them to people sitting in other countries,” Gehlot said, adding that the network was providing infrastructure to facilitate cyberattacks.
Malware used in the boss scam was suspected to have been developed by cybercriminals associated with China, the police said. Investigators also traced a call centre linked to the operation to Islamabad.
Bank accounts connected to the fraud were allegedly accessed through a China-based VPN service, officials said. The preliminary investigation has indicated the use of cyber infrastructure associated with China, India, Pakistan and Hong Kong to conceal the identities and locations of those involved.
The international connections are being jointly scanner by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) and Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch.
The network appeared to operate on a “Cybercrime-as-a-Service” model, in which criminals could obtain SIM cards, OTPs, WhatsApp accounts and other digital infrastructure needed to carry out fraud, the police said.
“Boss” scam, also known as CEO impersonation fraud, is a sophisticated cyber fraud in which criminals impersonate senior company executives or officials of regulatory bodies such as the RBI or SEBI to deceive employees into transferring large sums of money or sharing sensitive company information.
It involves sending malicious ZIP files containing .exe and .dll files to company officials through WhatsApp. The fraudsters then impersonate the company’s CEO or director and instruct finance department employees to transfer money.