Ahmedabad: Next time you get your telephone bill, take a good look at the details. And, if you call an unknown number, your SIM card may have been used by cybercriminals to commit digital fraud.
A special team of city police is probing the SIM card skimming racket with roots in the north Gujarat, found that fraudsters There were about 500 active cards that were used by two people simultaneously: the owner and the cyber crook.
Until now, scammers were using passive SIM card to cheat people. However, the revelation that someone’s SIM card can be used to commit fraud while they were still using it has shocked everyone.
“The accused stole data about active numbers from telecom companies or banks using dark web. They cloned the SIM cards and used it either to dupe foreign nationals in a call center racket or to extort money from anyone. They will use the SIM card for a day or two. A police officer said that the real user would never even know about it.
Cybercriminals primarily used the SIM card used by the original user for large volume calls. “This reduced the chances of discovery as the owner of the SIM card is not likely to go through the details of the bill and find out about the calls that he has not made,” the police said.
Police probing the involvement of telecom company employees
Police sources said a probe has been initiated to see whether the employees of the telecom company were involved in sharing customer data with fraudsters.
The racket came to light after the arrest of Vijaysinh Jhala of Aniyol village of Talod taluka of Sabarkantha for illegally selling SIM cards.
It is later revealed that he was only a delivery man working for a gang.
“The gang had around 20,000 SIM cards, of which around 500 were found to be active. During interrogation of Jhala, the police also found that the gang was also selling bank accounts, digital wallets and OTT app access credentials. These activities are flourishing in the rural areas of northern Gujarat mainly in the districts of Sabarkantha, Aravalli and Banaskantha. The city’s crime branch had registered an FIR against unknown people on October 10.
A special team of city police is probing the SIM card skimming racket with roots in the north Gujarat, found that fraudsters There were about 500 active cards that were used by two people simultaneously: the owner and the cyber crook.
Until now, scammers were using passive SIM card to cheat people. However, the revelation that someone’s SIM card can be used to commit fraud while they were still using it has shocked everyone.
“The accused stole data about active numbers from telecom companies or banks using dark web. They cloned the SIM cards and used it either to dupe foreign nationals in a call center racket or to extort money from anyone. They will use the SIM card for a day or two. A police officer said that the real user would never even know about it.
Cybercriminals primarily used the SIM card used by the original user for large volume calls. “This reduced the chances of discovery as the owner of the SIM card is not likely to go through the details of the bill and find out about the calls that he has not made,” the police said.
Police probing the involvement of telecom company employees
Police sources said a probe has been initiated to see whether the employees of the telecom company were involved in sharing customer data with fraudsters.
The racket came to light after the arrest of Vijaysinh Jhala of Aniyol village of Talod taluka of Sabarkantha for illegally selling SIM cards.
It is later revealed that he was only a delivery man working for a gang.
“The gang had around 20,000 SIM cards, of which around 500 were found to be active. During interrogation of Jhala, the police also found that the gang was also selling bank accounts, digital wallets and OTT app access credentials. These activities are flourishing in the rural areas of northern Gujarat mainly in the districts of Sabarkantha, Aravalli and Banaskantha. The city’s crime branch had registered an FIR against unknown people on October 10.
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