Delhi police bust syndicate of sending activated Indian SIM cards to foreign country

New Delhi [India], March 17 : Delhi police at IGI airport claimed to have busted a syndicate of fraudsters who used to get SIM cards issued in the names of gullible people, enticing them for a very small amount of money and selling the sim cards to people in Vietnam at higher rates to be used for gaming apps and social media profiteering, officials said on Sunday.
According to DCP Airport Usha Rangnani, a complaint was received at PS IGI Airport by the Manager of Operations of FedEx Courier at IGI Cargo Terminal, who stated in the complaint that during the physical check of random shipments, it was discovered that one shipment contained a concealed bulk quantity of SIM cards covered in carbon paper inside a diary, kept after making a hollow space by cutting the pages, intended for shipping to Vietnam.
A total of 500 SIM cards were found in that package, kept in three separate packets. After a preliminary inquiry, a case U/s 420 IPC, PS IGI Airport, Delhi, was registered on the complaint and an investigation of the case was taken up, as per DCP.
During the investigation, 60 SIM cards were randomly picked up and their details were called from the service providers. It was revealed that almost all of the SIM cards have been issued in the names of people living in and around the area of Loha Mandi, Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Moreover, all the SIM cards were also issued by the POS centres (point of sale centres) located in the nearby areas only, DCP added.

Raids were conducted at the Loha Mandi area in Agra and a random statement of two of the registered SIM card owners was recorded, who revealed that they were befooled by one Mukul Kumar, who gave them Rs 200 per person for getting the SIM cards issued in their name. The registered SIM card users are mostly daily-wage labourers working in factories making low-quality shoes. Mukul Kumar told the gullible people that these SIM cards are being issued just to meet the monthly targets set by his friends at POS centres of mobile service providers, the official said.

However, Mukul Kumar further sold these SIM cards to two persons, namely Kanhaiya and Hemant of Jagdishpura, Agra for Rs 300 per person. Further, they sold these SIM cards to Anil Kumar of Delhi for Rs 500 per SIM. Anil Kumar used to deliver the SIM cards to a Vietnam address, which he came in contact with on the Telegram app, and used to get Rs 1300 per SIM in his bank account through a Chinese cryptocurrency app by the name of Binance, the official added.
"The Binance app has recently been banned in India based on inputs from the Finance Ministry's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) for its involvement in scrupulous activities like money laundering," the official added.
Anil Kumar was also trading in cryptocurrency on the Binance app. Anil Kumar said in his disclosure statement that he was contacted by someone from Vietnam over the Telegram App to supply them with activated SIM cards, which they claimed would be used for gaming apps and to increase the likes and followers of interested people on social media accounts. Anil Kumar further put up an ad on the Telegram app looking for people who could supply activated SIM cards to him and he got a response from Kanhaiya and Hemant there, the official said.

200 more SIM cards have been recovered from Anil Kumar, along with various chequebooks and debit cards. Anil Kumar was living in a rented apartment in Vijay Nagar, Model Town, along with a roommate whose bank account was also being used by him to receive money from Binance App. It has also come to light during the investigation that the bank accounts being used by Anil Kumar have been reported in 19 cyber complaints from all over India. The inquiry officers about those complaints are being informed accordingly, the official said.

The investigation of the case is in progress to unearth the further involvement of anyone in this case, scrutinize the bank accounts of the accused persons and trace their possible involvement in other similar complaints/cases, as per the official.
The arrested accused have been identified as Mukul Kumar (22), Hemant (26), Kanhaiya Gupta (29), and Anil Kumar, (20).

Further investigation of the case is in progress.