A Cambodia-based transnational cybercrime syndicate, involved in defrauding thousands of Indians through digital arrests, was busted with the arrest of 10 persons.
The accused in police custody in Chandigarh on Friday. (Keshav Singh/HT)
The racket came to light after a 74-year-old retired school principal Manjeet Behl, wife of late Brigadier Amarjit Singh Behl, lost ₹1.01 crore to fraudsters impersonating CBI officials.
A case in this regard was registered at the cyber crime police station on July 21.
Used advanced telecom devices, recruited Indian youth for ops
As per the police, the scammers based in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Hong Kong, Laos, and Myanmar, used Dinstar SIM boxes, capable of making over two lakh automated calls daily. These calls impersonated government agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or FedEx. Victims were then shifted to WhatsApp video calls, where they were shown fake police stations and coerced into transferring money under the guise of securing their release. In many cases, convincing fake documents bearing government logos were shared with them.
To execute this large-scale operation, foreign handlers recruited Indian youth via Facebook and Telegram, offering salaries to set up SIM boxes at their homes. As per the authorities, this form of cybercrime resulted in a monthly economic damage of ₹1,000 crore nationwide.
Meerut raid a turning point in case
Following Behl’s complaint, a team, led by superintendent of police (SP, cyber) Geetanjali Khandelwal, deputy superintendent of police (DSP) A Venkatesh and SHO inspector Eram Rizvi launched a probe, looking into telecom records and other technical leads.
The turning point came when a raid in Meerut on July 24 led to the arrest of Parvez Chauhan, 33, who operated a SIM box for 50 USDT per day. Chats on his phone revealed coordination with foreign nationals and cryptocurrency payments.
Subsequent raids in Ludhiana and Amritsar led to the arrest of Vijay Kumar Shah, Krishna Shah, Suhail Akhtar, and Shubham Mehra alias Sunny, all of whom played critical roles in activating and distributing SIM cards. Shubham was caught red-handed operating six active SIM boxes, nearly 400 SIMs, and several phones and modems from a rented premises.
More suspects, Akash Kumar, Ajit Kumar, Saroj Kumar, Abhishek Kumar, and Vipin Kumar, were arrested on July 31, all of whom are believed to have been involved in the mass procurement, illegal activation, and distribution of SIM cards for cybercrime use.
From Parvez Chauhan, a SIM box, broadband router, 70–80 SIM cards, and three mobile phones were recovered. From Shubham Mehra in Amritsar, six SIM boxes, around 400 SIM cards, 11 phones, a laptop, two modems, and a router were recovered.
Police have secured ₹36.98 lakh through legal claims placed on linked bank accounts. All seized data have been shared with the Indian cyber crime coordination centre (I4C) to probe links with other cases nationwide. Probe is on to look into possible international handlers based in Taiwan, China, Malaysia, and Cambodia.