In a major crackdown, the Central Bureau of Investigation has filed case against 39 individuals who allegedly sold over a thousand Ghost SIM cards to cyber criminals operating from the Southeast Asian countries.
According to reports, these 39 point-of-sales (PoS) operators came under the radar of investigation agencies after the Home Ministry’s 14C kept an eye on SIM cards belonging to Indian telecom operators active in Southeast Asian countries.
Quoting officials, PTI reported that over 64,000 such SIM cards issued by 1,930 PoS fulfilled the criteria. These SIM cards were further shortlisted on the basis of at least 10 complaints against these SIM cards that narrowed the PoS under suspicion to 84.
Further investigation revealed that 39 PoS were currently active and allegedly engaged in creating ghost SIM cards. Officials said cybercriminals operating in Southeast Asian countries use tthese SIM cards to gullible people in India.
How SIM cards are issued
- When customer seeks a SIM, point-of-sale person gets an E-KYC done and issues a SIM
- Alleged scamsters would 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 (Ghost SIM) was sold to cybercriminals
- Customer wouldn't know that a SIM generated in their name was being used by cybercriminals
- These ghost SIM cards were then used to deceive victims and open fake bank accounts
The CBI suspects that official within the telecom operators may have played a role in activating these Ghost SIM. The agency conducted searches across the country last week and arrested at least five individuals. The searches were conducted as part of the ongoing Operation Chakra V.
