Dehradun: In probably the biggest recovery of fake SIM cards in the country till date, Uttarakhand STF has busted a gang involved in a Rs 80 lakh fraud through the fake SIM cards by arresting the alleged mastermind of the gang from Delhi from whose possession SIM cards worth nearly Rs 2 lakh have been recovered, sources said. An official said that the accused identified as Mudassir Mirza resident of Turkman Gate Chandni Mahal was arrested by the STF of the Uttarakhand Crime Branch from his residence.
Thousands of SIM cards recovered: An official said that thousands of SIM cards worth about Rs 1.95 lakh taken in the name of fake companies have been recovered from the arrested accused. The SIM cards include 29,000 Airtel and 16,000 Vodafone-Idea SIM cards. Sources said that the gang has defrauded people worth crores of rupees through M2M SIM in the country.
SSP STF Ayush Aggarwal said that the arrest stemmed from a complaint by a victim from Dehradun with the Cyber Crime Police Station that an advertisement was made in a WhatsApp group 'T Rowe Price stock pull up group A82' through Facebook about stock trading. The victim said that unknown persons contacted him, posing as Indira Securities Company and got the victim's account opened for trading, he said.
He said that he was later made to download another app after being added to another WhatsApp group “INDIRA Customer care- A303”. The victim said the accused duped him of Rs 80 lakh through different transactions on different dates on the pretext of earning profit by investing in stock trading. Based on the complaint of the victim, a case was registered against the unknown accused.
An official associated with the probe of the case said that following the complaint, the Cyber Crime Police Station formed a team to arrest the accused. While investigating the case, the police found out that the mobile numbers from which WhatsApp calls were made to the victim were made by one Mudassir Mirza resident of Turkman Gate Chandni Mahal, Delhi, in the name of XENO TECHNOLOGY.
Mirza was subsequently arrested from Chandni Mahal police station, Delhi. About 3000 SIMs have been recovered from his possession as per police.
Modus operandi: In the subsequent interrogation of the accused, it was revealed that the accused along with his other associates created a fake company and obtained a SIM card in its name. Through fake SIM cards, the accused posed as an employee and officer of “Indira Securities Company” and also created a fake website to dupe people. An official said that the accused lured the general public into earning profits through stock trading through WhatsApp calls and messages.
By taking them into confidence and adding them to different fake WhatsApp groups, the accused thus duped gullible people.
Sources said that the arrested mastermind used to activate WhatsApp through his gang associates to dupe the investors. These numbers were then removed from the phone to dodge police.
M2M communication: M2M communication usually occurs between machines, where network devices exchange information without any human intervention. This is different from regular phone contact through SIM cards. Devices like debit, credit card swiping machines, POS (point-of-sale) devices are involved in M2M communication. This type of communication is also used in warehouse management, robotics, traffic control, logistics services, supply chain management, fleet management, remote control and more.
Additionally, it is being used for emerging technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
SSP STF Ayush Aggarwal said that accused Mudassir Mirza told that thousands of M2M SIM cards have been issued by him in the name of corporate ID which are used to market business on WhatsApp. The SSP said that the accused rented an office in Borivali, Mumbai and bought a total of 29,000 SIM cards from Airtel and 16,000 SIM cards from Vodafone-Idea at different times to generate corporate IDs.
The SIMs were distributed to different agents while the accused still had about 3000 Airtel SIM cards left, which have been recovered by the police team.
