A West Bengal gang has been caught stealing millions of rupees from a bank account using an innovative method called “SIM SWAP”. Chennai Cyber Crime Police arrested for theft for the first time in Tamil Nadu. what happened? Let’s see.
The executive officer of the popular eye hospital in Alwarpet, Chennai has lodged a complaint with the Chennai Central Crime Branch Cyber Crime Police. in it, “The mobile number linked to their hospital bank account has been disconnected and a new SIM card of the same number has been obtained and Rs 24 lakh has been stolen from their hospital bank account,” it said.
Following this, a case was registered at the Chennai Central Crime Branch Cyber Crime Police Station and an investigation was conducted.
The investigation revealed that in 2011 the hospital management had bought 5 SIM cards for a bank transaction and provided 5 dummy SIM cards to be used immediately if those SIM cards are lost. The hospital has been using the official email of the hospital to telecommunicate the telecom company involved, especially in case of disappearance of the original SIM cards, to activate the dummy SIM cards.
In this case, a cell phone number that was used in this way was linked to the bank account of the hospital staff, it was revealed that about 25 lakh rupees was robbed from that bank account.
Further investigation revealed that the cyber crime police had obtained the e-SIM card and activated it in Uttar Pradesh by submitting fake identity cards in the name of the hospital. The police investigation also revealed that Rs 24 lakh of fraudulent money was sent to 16 different bank accounts in West Bengal.
Following this, an intensive investigation was conducted under the leadership of Chennai Central Crime Branch Deputy Commissioner Nagajothi. They also went to West Bengal to nab a private fraud gang led by Cyber Crime Police Inspector Vinod Kumar.
When the cyber crime police investigated where the money was taken from 16 bank accounts, they caught two CCTV footage of two members of a fraudulent gang taking money from an ATM in Kolkata. Following this, the police led by cyber crime investigator Vinod Kumar with the help of Kolkata police conducted a search throughout the town of Behala in Kolkata. They put a picture of 2 people recorded on CCTV in the street and showed it to the public in an attempt to find out where they are. They also searched the addresses of 16 bank accounts. But they also knew they were fake addresses.
While searching for the CCTV footage, the cyber crime police went to the house where Rakesh Kumar Singh, a resident of Bihar, was staying after getting information about him. The cyber crime police arrested him while he was carrying 105 SIM cards. Arrested Rakesh Kumar Singh was arrested and interrogated. Someone then came to the same house as an officer while asking questions about where the associates were. When the police caught up with him, they found out that he was Rogon, a member of a fraudulent gang. Cyber crime police confirmed the arrest of Rakesh Kumar Singh and Rohan on CCTV.
Following this, other accomplices Sayantan Mukherjee and Rahul Roy from West Bengal were detained at the Bangladesh border.
The four arrested persons were brought to Chennai by the cyber crime police on a transit warrant and interrogated. The cyber crime police said that in this case it was a challenge to catch the culprits as all the bank accounts to which the money was transferred were revealed to be bank accounts created using fake addresses and fake Aadhar card. Satish was the person who acted as the leader of these four arrested. Operating from Uttar Pradesh. It has been revealed that money is looted using a method called “sim swap”
Even if the SIM card is broken, the old SIM becomes a jungle or there is a network problem, people usually have to withdraw their old cell phone number through a dummy SIM card at the nearest SIM card company. The company that buys hundreds of SIM cards, as well as important people such as actors, actresses, businessmen, can pick up the dummy SIM card at a nearby showroom if the SIM card is broken or old, and activate it by e-mailing it to the relevant SIM card network company via an official email. Network companies are offering this facility of e-SIM activation via mail only to certain specific customers.
The cyber crime police have found out that the fraudulent gang was aware of this and obtained information from the bank or a related network company.
Based on that, the official e-mail of this eye hospital has been hacked and brought under control. The cybercrime police investigation has revealed that the hospital then bought a dummy SIM card claiming that the SIM card linked to its bank account was lost and activated the SIM card in e-SIM activation mode by fraudulently sending the hospital management an e-mail with a hacked e-mail to activate it. .
The cyber crime police said that the gang had staged the scam knowing that the management of the hospital concerned would not receive any text message as it was a bank holiday, especially on Fridays and Saturdays. According to the cyber crime police, the SIM card of the hospital bank account was activated and the money in the hospital bank account was transferred to various bank accounts through online transactions.
Shankar Jival, Chennai Police Commissioner said.
Chennai Central Crime Branch police have found that this is the first time in Tamil Nadu that fraud has taken place in this innovative manner. Chennai Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal has lauded the cyber crime police for arresting an innovative fraud gang. 14 mobile phones, 105 SIM cards, 154 debit cards, 22 fake phone cards and 128 Aadhar cards were seized from the detainees.
According to the cyber crime police, many victims of the scam could come to India to lodge a complaint after the Chennai Central Crime Branch police uncovered the scam.
Arrested from West Bengal Rohan, Rakesh Kumar Singh, Sayantan Mukherjee and Rahul Roy have been produced in court and remanded in custody. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is to intensify the next phase of investigation based on the number of Aadhar cards and SIM cards confiscated from them in connection with the scam.
– Subramanian
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