Morigaon emerges as cybercrime hub, police bust network, recover Rs 1.20 Cr
Morigaon police arrest over 300 accused in three years as investigations reveal links to Southeast Asia and Pakistan.
Guwahati, Jan 8: Cybercrime has become a serious cause of concern, and the alarming fact is that the money collected by cyber-criminals is being sent abroad, mostly to Southeast Asian countries and even to Pakistan.
Morigaon district was turning into a hub of cyber criminals, but on the positive side, Morigaon police managed to arrest more than 300 criminals in the last three years, and Rs 1.20 crore was returned to the victims.
Police sources told The Assam Tribune that Lahorighat and Moirabari areas of Morigaon district became a hub of cyber criminals.
Youths, mostly belonging to the minority communities, who went to work in places like Bangalore and Kerala, managed to learn cyber operations and returned home to start criminal activities.
In the first step, they made fake documents in the names of others and targeted non-banking financial institutions. They obtained loans in fake names and vanished.
At one point of time, the Government had outsourced Aadhaar centres, and the criminals took advantage of the situation to get Aadhaar cards in fake names.
The centre run by one Salam was the main point of criminal activities. Later, when such activities came to light, such outsourced centres were closed down.
Sources said that the criminals remained in touch with cybercrime experts from outside the State and abroad through WhatsApp.
According to information available with the police, a major chunk of the money collected by the criminals went to Southeast Asian countries, and one portion went to Pakistan.
Interestingly, people from places like Rajasthan and Haryana came to Morigaon to get training on cyber-crime.
The criminals of Morigaon also helped out-siders to obtain SIM cards with fake documents, and some such SIMs were active in the India-Pakistan bordering areas. However, after police action, more than 72,000 SIM cards have been deactivated.
However, sources admitted some such SIMs obtained fraudulently may still be active, as it is not possible to detect all such SIMs.