In a significant development, the Special Task Force (STF) in Uttarakhand has dismantled a gang involved in an ₹80 lakh fraud through fake SIM cards, marking one of the largest such recoveries in the country. The alleged mastermind, Mudassir Mirza, a resident of Turkman Gate Chandni Mahal in Delhi, was apprehended by the STF, leading to the recovery of nearly ₹2 lakh worth of SIM cards from his possession.
The recovered SIM cards, totaling around ₹1.95 lakh, were registered under the names of fake companies. Notably, among these were 29,000 Airtel and 16,000 Vodafone-Idea SIM cards. The gang reportedly executed scams worth crores of rupees using Machine-to-Machine (M2M) SIM cards across the country.
The arrest followed a complaint from a victim in Dehradun, who reported falling prey to a fraudulent stock trading scheme promoted on a WhatsApp group. The victim was deceived by individuals posing as representatives of Indira Securities Company, leading to transactions amounting to ₹80 lakh. Subsequently, a case was registered, and the STF initiated an investigation.
The Cyber Crime Police Station traced the WhatsApp calls to Mudassir Mirza and his associates, who had established a fake company, acquired SIM cards in its name, and created a fictitious website. The accused, pretending to be employees of “Indira Securities Company,” lured victims into stock trading schemes through WhatsApp calls and messages. The arrested mastermind utilized M2M SIM cards to conduct these activities, facilitating communication between machines without human intervention.
During the interrogation, Mirza disclosed that he had distributed thousands of M2M SIM cards in the name of corporate IDs to market businesses on WhatsApp. He further revealed the procurement of 29,000 Airtel and 16,000 Vodafone-Idea SIM cards from Mumbai. Mirza operated from an office in Borivali, Mumbai, and had enlisted various agents to distribute the SIM cards. Approximately 3,000 Airtel SIM cards, still in Mirza’s possession, were recovered by the police.
The arrest sheds light on the modus operandi of the gang, emphasizing the misuse of M2M communication for fraudulent activities. M2M communication, typically occurring between machines, was exploited to carry out deceptive practices in stock trading, illustrating the evolving challenges posed by emerging technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT).