Malappuram Cyber Crime Police has arrested Abdul Roshan, a native of Hubli, Karnataka, for his alleged involvement in a fraudulent SIM card business, and seized 40000 fraudulent SIM cards and 180 mobile phones.
Abdul’s arrest took place in Madikeri, Karnataka, following an investigation led by Kerala’s Malappuram District Police Chief S. Sasidharan and Cyber Inspector I.C. Chitharanjan in a cyber fraud case.
The Cyber case
The victim, hailing from Vengara, incurred substantial financial losses after engaging with a share market website link advertised on Facebook. Subsequently, cyber criminals posing as customer care representatives from the share market site persuaded the victim to make significant deposits into various accounts. However, the victim neither received any returns nor recovered the deposited funds. The cyber criminals reported to have extorted Rs 1.08 crores from the victim.
The Business of Abdul Roshan
Abdul Roshan runs a fraudulent SIM card business, utilising a network of mobile shop owners around the state. These shop owners reportedly get customers fingerprints to activate counterfeit SIM cards, which they subsequently sell to Roshan for Rs 50 each. Abdul thereafter offers these cards to cyber criminals. This illegal activity not only violates the privacy of individuals, but it also poses a serious threat to national security.
The illicit SIM card trade has been intertwined with terrorist and anti-national endeavours. In a past incident, terrorists apprehended were discovered to have acquired SIMs using counterfeit copies of innocent individuals’ ID cards.
In 2023, Tamil Nadu cyber-crime police busted a cyber-crime gang operating from Coimbatore, seized 22,735 SIM cards, 11 laptops, 19 desktop computers, 292 mobile phones, 23 SIM modem boxes, and nine ATM cards with chequebooks, and arrested the mastermind of this business Syed Raghib Khursheed from New Delhi.
SMS Fraud: Tamil Nadu Cyber police arrest #SyedRaghibKhursheed and 18 others, seize 22,735 SIM cards
— Organiser Weekly (@eOrganiser) March 10, 2023
In June 2023, Assam police busted huge gangs of cyber criminals in Morigaon district. The arrested criminals, Mustakin Ali. Ashraful Islam, jointly hold 24000 fake SIM cards using fake IDs.
Morigaon, #Jamtara of Assam: Mustakin, Ashraful, Aminul arrested within a week with over 24000 fake SIM cards #Assam #Morigaonhttps://t.co/i79DmlinUF
— Organiser Weekly (@eOrganiser) June 25, 2023
In April, 2024, Haryana police arrested 42 cyber criminals who were involved in cyber fraud cases in the country. The accused include Deen Mohammad, Asif, Arif, Sarfaraz, Saqib, Ijaz, and Munajir.
Nuh is the new Jamtara; Police arrest 40 youth involved in cybercrime in 48 hours, seize 50 cell phones & 90 sim cards
Read more at: https://t.co/gZmIavKdie
— Subhi Vishwakarma (@subhi_karma) April 2, 2024
Cases like these highlight the existence of a vast network within the country, posing a significant national security risk. Terrorists could potentially access these fraudulent SIM cards, putting innocent individuals whose documents are compromised at risk of being implicated in cases without their knowledge or involvement.
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