Bhubaneswar: The Crime Branch have busted a SIM card racket and arrested three mobsters for their involvement in cyber fraud.
The three arrested accused have been identified as the mastermind Dusmanta Sahoo, Sai Prakash Das (38), Avinash Nayak (32), and Dushmant Kumar Sahu (23).
Reportedly, an enquiry was conducted by the Cyber Cell of the Crime Branch, Odisha, Cuttack after getting information about opening of a WhatsApp account using mobile Number 9439073870 with the photo of a popular person.
The mobile number was found to be from Service provider BSNL, Odisha Circle and it had been used consecutively in 3 different mobiles in Talabarkot village in Dhenkanal. Vodafone SIMs were activated but switched off at the village added reports.
Cyber Team conducted extensive investigation in that area and came to know that one shop in the name Sky Arts to be deals with sale and activation of SIMs of different service providers and the proprietor and his co-worker Sai Prakash Das and Avinash Nayak. They were selling of pre-activated SIMs to Dushmanta Sahu of Nadiali village.
The mastermind Dushmanat joined a group “Buyer Seller of OTP” through Facebook.
The Modus Operandi adopted by this group includes receipt pre-activated mobile number from among the source and used them in opening fake accounts/wallets in different online shopping app like Mobikwik, Dhanipay, flipkart, Amazon, Myntra, Bigcas, Swiggy, Phonepe, Olacab, Nobrkr, Paytm, Bigbkt & numerous gaming apps like Rummy, Howzat, TP Game etc.
The pre-activated SIM was also used to open fake WhatsApp account by fraudsters. The accused Dushmant used to put the SIM in mobile handsets and shared the OTP received in his mobile phone with the “Buyer Seller of OTP” group, and received instant payment from the group.
Dushmant received the pre-activated SIMs of different Service Providers like BSNL, JIO, Vodafone, Airtel from Sai Prakash and Avinash and shared those pre-activated SIM numbers among the group “Buyer Seller of OTP” group and received Rs. 400/- per SIM.
The cyber Cell of Crime Branch seized 19641 SIMs and other articles from the possession of three accused persons. All the three accused persons were arrested today and being forwarded to Court.
Following are the list of articles seized from the possession of accused persons:
1) Total 19641 numbers of pre-activated Cards including
- BSNL SIMs-6814 Nos.
- Vodafone SIM- 9685 Nos.
- JIO SIM- 3017 Nos.
- Airtel SIM-25 Nos.
- Idea SIM-90 Nos.
- Tata SIM- 10 Nos.
2) Cash of Rs. 14,32,892/-
3) Recharge Vouchers- 247 Nos.
4) Mobile Handsets- 48 Nos with accessories.
5) Finger Print Scanner.
6) Credit Cards/ATM and Bank Pass Books of different Banks.
7) One HP laptop.
8) Colour photos (Passport) of different persons- 440 Nos
9) Voter I-card (Xerox) – 394 Nos
10) Aadhara Card (Xerox) – 5 Nos
11) QR Code Board- 11 Nos
12) Customers Application Forms- 108 Nos
Ms Kalinga