In a significant crackdown, Uttarakhand’s Special Task Force (STF) and state cyber police arrested a man in Manglaur, Haridwar, for allegedly trading SIM cards that were fraudulently acquired using personal information and biometrics of women from rural areas in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The accused, Mohammed Aslam, reportedly sold these SIM cards to scam centers in Southeast Asian countries.
Officials revealed that Aslam, who owns a SIM card shop, collected Aadhaar cards, photographs, and biometrics under the pretext of registering women for government welfare schemes, sometimes even offering incentives like tea-cup sets. He was apprehended during an ongoing investigation into two online stock-trading fraud cases registered in Dehradun and Gopeshwar.
Inspector General (Law and Order) Nilesh Anand Bharne stated that during interrogation, Aslam admitted to selling Indian SIM cards and their details to international cybercriminals in countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar since October of last year. He claimed to have sold approximately 20,000 SIM cards, earning between Rs3 to Rs50 for each piece of SIM-related information, including OTPs, from his contacts abroad.
Authorities confiscated a total of 1,816 SIM cards, two chequebooks, five mobile phones, and two biometric devices from Aslam. With assistance from the I4C unit of the Home Ministry, they uncovered 35 fraud cases linked to the illegally acquired SIM cards registered across the country. The investigation continues as efforts are made to apprehend other individuals involved in this operation.
