Hyderabad: In a major breakthrough, the Telangana police in coordination with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB), busted an illegal cyber fraud operation involving SIM boxes in Jannaram, Mancherial district.
The complaint over the issue was received via the Chakshu Portal to Dot Hyderabad where the scam was first reported as a threatening scam call with fraudsters pretending to be government officials and warning potential victims of mobile disconnection and legal action. The DoT effectively started investigation by tracing down the link between various International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) and SIM box devices.
After analysis of call records, officials tracked the source of the scam to a SIM box setup in Jannaram in Telangana. Soon a joint operation led by the TGCSB, DoT, and Ramagundam Police led to the arrest of four people, and five SIM box devices and around 230 SIM cards were seized. It is believed that the SIMs were sourced illegally from regions in Andhra Pradesh for the massive cyber crime operation.
The main accused Bapu Bapaiah was found to have international links as he previously worked in Cambodia, an area which is linked to international cyber fraud and cyber slavery rackets. Upon returning to India, he was contacted by a man known as Jack, alias Palavalsula Sai Krishna, who directed Bapaiah to set up the operation in Jannaram.
Bavu Madhukar, Bapaiah’s brother, who helped with the setup and SIM handling and Gotla Rajeshwar assisted the main accused with logistics. Yandrapu Kamesh, an unemployed engineer who was promised a salary of Rs 70,000 per month with additional share in the fraud were all recruited to manage the SIM-base cyber crime.
To avoid detection, the team rotated between SIM cards in the boxes and used high-speed internet to run their cyber crime operations smoothly. Authorities are continuing the investigation to find more international links and individuals involved along via the financial trails.
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