1 month ago
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Sixty-six persons were apprehended by the Cyber Crime Police Station of Hyderabad City Police arsenic portion of ‘Operation Octopus 3.0’, a nationwide crackdown targeting ‘Ghost SIM’ networks allegedly enabling organised cyber fraud crossed India.
According to Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar, the cognition was launched pursuing the earlier phases of Operation Octopus that targeted mule relationship holders and slope officials allegedly facilitating cyber fraud. The latest signifier focused connected dismantling networks progressive successful supplying fraudulent SIM cards utilized by cyber criminals to conceal their identities.
The Commissioner said that 194 Ghost SIMs linked to cybercrime cases registered with the Cyber Crime Police Station were identified during the investigation. Eighteen teams were deployed crossed 13 States during a seven-day operation.
The cognition covered Telangana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Punjab.
“544 SIM cards were seized wrong Hyderabad metropolis limits by the Cyber Crime Police Station peculiar task force. Of these, 432 were sealed SIM cards allegedly awaiting deployment for cybercrime activities. Among the 66 persons apprehended were 44 alleged Ghost SIM holders, 20 point-of-sale agents oregon telecom promoters and 2 alleged suppliers,” said the officer.
He added that the accused were collectively linked to 76 cybercrime cases crossed India involving alleged fraud amounting to ₹101.87 crore.
During the investigation, constabulary recovered that definite point-of-sale agents allegedly activated further SIM cards during mobile fig portability eKYC verification without customers’ cognition and converted them into eSIMs for dispatch abroad.
Investigators besides recovered that immoderate agents allegedly offered escaped SIM activation to digitally illiterate individuals and diverted the SIM cards to distributors connected committee for usage successful overseas cyber fraud operations.
Police further alleged that customers were induced with wealth to surrender SIM cards that were aboriginal supplied to fraud networks, portion successful immoderate cases OTPs were obtained from customers to make fake profiles connected WhatsApp, societal media, dating and matrimonial platforms.
The probe besides revealed that bulk SIM organisation camps were allegedly organised successful villages nether the guise of escaped SIM distribution, targeting illiterate individuals and exploiting their Aadhaar identities.
Hyderabad constabulary said the cognition forms portion of a larger inaugural to code systemic gaps enabling cybercrime. Over the past six months, officials person held meetings with banks and regulatory authorities regarding mule accounts, KYC verification and fraud prevention measures.
Police said structured meetings would soon beryllium held with telecom work providers to fortify oversight of point-of-sale agents, amended verification protocols and found stronger mechanisms to curb misuse of SIM cards.
The cognition was conducted nether the supervision of DCP Cybercrimes V. Aravind Babu and ACP Cybercrimes Siva Maruthi on with teams from the Cyber Crime Police Station, detective inspectors and Armed Reserve personnel.
