30 thousand SIM cards were ported without KYC for online fraud

Mumbai: Mumbai’s Central Cyber ​​Police has arrested eight people for porting phone numbers without KYC for online fraud. The arrested accused also include employees of two top mobile service providers.
The whole matter came to light when a businessman from Central Mumbai became a victim of fraud of Rs. 1000 while investing in the stock market through a virtual trading platform. There was a loss of Rs 51.33 lakh. The investigation of this entire chapter also revealed that the accused illegally ported more than 30 thousand SIM cards without proper verification of KYC (Know Your Customer) documents.

Giving more information in this regard, police officials said that between May 14 and June 28, the complainant was added to a WhatsApp group named ‘MSFL-Stock Chart-33’. After this the fraudsters convinced them to open an account on the virtual platform of the brokerage firm. The complainant deposited Rs. by showing fake virtual profits on investment in stock trading. 51.36 lakh were lured for investment. Realizing that the businessman himself had been a victim of investment fraud, he lodged a complaint in this regard with the Central Cyber ​​Police. Later, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Lakhmi Gautam handed over the investigation of this case to DCP Dutta Nalawade.

A police team led by DCP Dutta Nalawade traced several mobile numbers active in these WhatsApp groups in West Bengal. Upon further investigation one of these numbers was tracked to a mobile service provider gallery in Colaba. The accused were working in the franchise of ‘V’ company in Colaba and were illegally porting numbers by generating UPC codes without KYC documents. The police then conducted further investigation and arrested several people including Mahesh Kadam, Rohit Yadav, Sagar Thakur, Raj Ord, Mahesh Pawar, Gulabchand Jaiswar, Usman Shaikh and Abu Yusuf. Two of the accused were also shop owners.

Elaborating on the case, Moushumi Patil, senior inspector, Central Cyber ​​Police Station, said that the accused had illegally sold around 30,000 SIM cards to foreign nationals and others in the last one year without KYC verification. After such shocking information came to light in the investigation, the police has conducted a more thorough investigation in this entire chapter.