Hyderabad: Cybercrime cops bust SIM swap fraud, 6 held

Hyderabad: The Cyberabad police on Saturday arrested six interstate fraudsters of SIM swapping gang handled from Nigeria. The fraudsters led by two Nigerians, one of whom operating from abroad, were hacking company e-mails in India through phishing mails and after collecting the credentials of internet banking and registered mobile numbers, they hacked the bank accounts. They transferred funds from company accounts to their accounts through net banking.

According to Cyber Crime Police, the kingpin of the gang Ebigbo Innocent alias James, native of Nigeria still remains at large, while other members of the gang were arrested from Kolkata in West Bengal. The accused were identified as Odafe Henry, a native of Nigeria, who was residing in Kolkata. Santosh Benerjee (52), Ankan Saha (31), Rajat Kundu (35), Chandan Verma (42) and Sanjib Das (38), natives of Kolkata. 

Police during the investigation found that the prime accused James who was the mastermind of this crime operating from Nigeria targeted the companies by sending phishing emails in India with an intention to hack them. Through this process he collected details of internet banking and registered mobile numbers and shared the same with Henry, Rajat and Santosh online. After obtaining the details, the gang prepared fake documents and facsimile rubber stamps in the name of the company.

 By submitting fake documents, the accused used to collect new SIM cards from the concerned telecom stores of the mobile service providers. After procuring new SIM card, the gang members conducted fraudulent transactions from the bank account of the company and transferred the funds to their accounts by using the OTPs generated on the new SIM (mobile number) card, obtained fraudulently.

 Once the amounts were transferred into their accounts, the same were either withdrawn from different locations or utilised for purchasing gold ornaments from shops. So far, the accused have targeted scores of companies in different parts of the country.
 
The companies cheated by the accused include Elim Chemicals & Shalom Chemical Industries, Hyderabad (Rs 9,00,000), Institute of Silicon Systems Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad (Rs 24,00,000), SKS Enterprises & Kartik Enterprises, Chennai (Rs 25,00,000),  Dave Implex, Kolkata (Rs 25,00,000), Napture Traders, Ahmedabad (Rs 13,00,000), Able Logistics, Kolkata (Rs 48,000), M New Club, Kolkata, LM Export, Kolkata and Ma Bhavani Traders, Kolkata, Unique Traders, Delhi,  Vasaya Traders, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Bass Shipping, Chennai and J Marie Wilson, Chennai. 

The investigation by Cyberabad police was initiated after the accused targeted Eilm Chemicals & Shalom Chemical Industries in the month of December 2018. The management lodged a complaint stating that the company had lost Rs 5 lakh from South India Bank, Suchitra Branch at Secunderabad.