Fake health camps offering medicines at subsidised rates allegedly became a front for harvesting villagers' Aadhaar and biometric details to activate SIM cards for cybercriminals, Delhi Police have said.Two men have been arrested for allegedly running the operation and activating more than 3,000 SIM cards, including e-SIMs, over the past year, news agency Press Trust of India reported on October 29.The accused, Jitendra Singh, 29, and Brajesh Kumar, 21, have been linked to more than 20 cybercrime complaints involving suspected fraud of around Rs 2.64 crore, police said.The Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of Delhi Police arrested the duo from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh during a raid on the night of October 20-21. "The accused allegedly organised fake health camps in villages, offering medicines at subsidised rates to collect Aadhaar and biometric details of villagers, which were then allegedly misused to obtain SIM or e-SIM cards," a senior police officer told news agency PTI.According to the officer, investigators linked SIM cards allegedly activated by the accused to more than 20 complaints registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. The complaints involved suspected financial fraud amounting to approximately Rs 2.64 crore.
The investigation began with a complaint involving a suspected “digital arrest” scam. In the case, a person was threatened with legal action during a series of video calls and coerced into transferring Rs 1.64 crore through six RTGS transactions to six bank accounts over nearly two weeks.A case was subsequently registered at the IFSO police station of the Special Cell, the officer said."Technical analysis of mobile numbers and device-related data led investigators to Vrindavan-Mathura, where the alleged e-SIM supply network was uncovered," the officer said.During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they had been procuring, activating and supplying physical SIM cards and e-SIMs for around a year.
They reportedly sold between 20 and 30 e-SIMs daily.Police said the accused purchased activated e-SIMs for between Rs 800 and Rs 1,200 apiece and resold them for around Rs 2,000. Payments were made using USD Tether, a cryptocurrency.Investigators also found communications between the accused and contacts based abroad.
Police are examining possible links to cyber fraud operations and systems known as SIM boxes, which can be used to route large volumes of calls.Three mobile phones were recovered from the accused. Police further alleged that the two men frequently changed their phones and destroyed older devices to evade detection.The investigation is ongoing, with police probing the network through which identity details collected at fake health camps were used to activate SIM cards that were subsequently linked to multiple cybercrime complaints.- Ends