Bhubaneswar: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at 10 locations in Bihar’s Vaishali district and Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district in connection with an illegal SIM Box operation linked to cyber-enabled frauds.
During the searches, CBI officials recovered incriminating material, including mobile phones, laptops and SIM cards.
The agency also arrested an area distributor of a mobile operator in Vaishali district for allegedly issuing a large number of SIM cards fraudulently and facilitating their use in the illegal operation.
The case pertains to an illegal SIM Box operation detected in Supaul district of Bihar last year, which was later transferred to the CBI by the Bihar government.
According to the CBI, more than 1,300 SIM cards were recovered from the premises where the illegal SIM Box was being run. Analysis of data associated with these SIM cards indicated their connection with at least 73 cybercrime cases reported across India, including cases involving the ‘Digital Arrest’ modus operandi.
Detailed analysis identified several suspected Points of Sale (PoS) from where the SIM cards were issued, with a majority found to have been issued from Bihar and Odisha.More than 700 SIM cards were allegedly issued by the arrested Airtel area distributor by misusing credentials of over a dozen PoS in Vaishali district, the agency said.
The investigation also found that several subscribers were unaware that SIM cards had been issued in their names. Their identities may have been misused either by obtaining multiple e-KYC authorisations when they visited SIM providers for genuine purposes or by misusing biometric data collected for other purposes.
The CBI is investigating the case for alleged offences of cheating, forgery and extortion under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), identity theft and computer-related offences under the IT Act, besides offences under the Telecommunications Act, 2022.
