Odisha STF Arrests 7th Accused In OTP-Sharing Scam Involving Pak Agents

Bhubaneswar: The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Crime Branch nabbed an anti-social from Assam in pre-activated SIM cards scam in which six persons, including a teacher, were earlier arrested for allegedly sharing one-time passwords (OTPs) with cyber criminals and Pakistani agents.

The accused, Mohammad Ekbal Hussain, was arrested from Gandhua Pathar in Assam’s Nagaon district on September 19. He was produced in a local court there, and brought to Bhubaneswar on 5-day transit remand, an STF release said.

The release further said that Ekbal Hussain was in touch with Abhijit, who was arrested from Pune, Maharashtra, in July, and also Abdul Hamid, a Pakistan intelligence officer. “He sold many WhatsApp and Telegram account OTPs and mule/ghost accounts directly to Hamid. After arrest of the principal accused Pathanisamant Lenka and his associates, Hussain switched off his phone and went underground. It was found that he used at least 37 IMEI (handsets) and more than 500 SIMs.”

The STF said that Hussain has confessed to have sold the OTPs, fake activated SIMS in the past 2 years and earned Rs 50,000-Rs 60,000 a month. “He further disclosed that may people in his village are involved in such crimes,” the release added.

In May,  the agency had arrested Lenka (35) of Itamati, a teacher in a private ITI college, Saroj Kumar Nayak alias Amit (26) of Poibadi in Nayagarh district and Soumya Pattanaik (19) of Sujanpur in Jajpur district.