The Cyber Crime Police officials of Cyberabad today arrested five members of interstate Gang of Mira Road” for committing SIM SWAP fraud .
In a statement, the Cyberabad CP said that had the Cybercrime fraudsters have adopted the technique of SIM swap to get access to the net banking of their targets and siphon off the funds from the accounts since the year 2011. The main fraudster operating from abroad is a Nigerian, he said. The CP said that they received a specific complaint from a person on June 29. The complainant in his complaint stated that on June 21st of the same month he had taken a new SIM card with same number and observed that newly activated SIM was working for to just make outgoing calls while noting that he did not receive any incoming calls. He said that he contacted JIO customer care and complained about the same issue and added that the company resolved his issue. Later, he tried to login to his Internet banking account of Kotak Mahindra Bank in his mobile and got to know that some unknown persons changed his Internet Banking Login and Password. By using Debit card credentials, he changed password of internet banking and tried to make a transaction. But the complainant observed that the balance amount in his account was zero. Next day he visited the bank and found that some unknown persons made (3) Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) transactions from his account Rs.4,25,000 and siphoned it off from his account by Swapping his SIM Card without his knowledge.
Basing on the complaint, the police registered a case in Cyber Crime PS launched the investigation. The police have also received another complaint on the issue on October 29 in which the victim had lost another Rs.6,75,000/-in two transactions from his Bank of India account number.
The names of the accused are James, a native of Nigerian and is absconding now. The other accused are Chandrakant Siddhanth Kamble, Zameer Ahmed Munir Sayyed, Shoaib Sheikh, Adil Hassan Ali Sayyed, Junaid Ahmed Shaik Ashwin Narayana Sharegar. All the other accused except the Nigerian are the residents of Mumbai.
The CP said that James was the master mind behind the offence and operates from Nigeria. He hacks the net banking credentials of his target through phishing mails in the name of IT returns. He later hires blockers, who take new replaced SIM card for the blocked SIM card from West Bengal and Maharashtra and asks them to collect replaced. SIM cards of the mobile numbers registered with bank accounts of his target. Using the OTPs received on the mobile number, he transfers the funds to the bank accounts provided by the blockers. He collects the cheated amount through Bitcoins or Hawala.