CBI arrests three in Silchar for issuing ‘Ghost SIMs’ to cybercriminals

Delhi, Aug 29: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested an Airtel territory sales manager (TSM) from Silchar, Assam, for allegedly facilitating the unauthorised sale of SIM cards later used in cybercrimes, including digital arrest scams, officials said on Thursday.

The agency conducted raids at five locations in Cachar district on Wednesday, leading to the arrest of TSM Debashish Doley along with two alleged middlemen, Mahim Uddin Barbhuiya and Ashim Purkayastha.

According to investigators, Doley colluded with the middlemen to issue SIM cards without the knowledge of the individuals in whose names they were registered. These “ghost SIM cards” were then misused by cybercriminals.

In May this year, the CBI had booked 39 point-of-sale (POS) operators for selling 1,100 such SIM cards to cybercrime networks operating from Southeast Asian countries and targeting Indian citizens.

Airtel has not yet responded to queries regarding the arrest.

According to the modus operandi adopted to sell a "ghost SIM card", when a customer seeks a SIM, the point-of- sale person gets an e-KYC done and issues a SIM. Scamsters lie to the customers that their e-KYC had failed and they should try again.

The SIM generated for the first time was handed over to the customer while the second one - the "ghost SIM" - was sold to cybercriminals without the genuine customers knowing that a SIM generated in their name was being used by scammers, the officials said.

These "ghost SIM cards" were then used not only to deceive the victims, but also to create mule bank accounts to receive the money, which were later closed to avoid detection or revelation of the money trail, they said.

"These sales were done by violating the laid-down guidelines and procedures. These SIM cards were sold illegally in bulk to various middlemen at high cost. and later these cards were used in com- mission of various cyber crimes," a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.

Aimed at curbing the sale and misuse of unauthorised SIM cards being sold. through distributors/PoS agents, the CBI crackdown resulted in seizure of incriminating evidences like mobile phones, electronic devices and copies of KYC documents, etc., she said.

"This action underscores the Govern- ment of India's resolute commitment in combating cyber crimes and in bringing its perpetrators to face the law and also special focus in dismantling the infra- structure which facilitates such crimes," the spokesperson said.

PTI