Cyber Crime Wing probes the involvement of Chinese network in cyber frauds through SIM Boxes

The Cyber Crime Wing of the Tamil Nadu Police is probing the involvement of a Chinese network in cyber frauds using SIM boxes, which are handled by locals in India for a commission.

A SIM box is a device that can be used to show international calls as local calls. The hardware-based device is used to bypass restrictions or gateways of the Department of Telecommunications and telecom service providers. Each box is fitted with hundreds of SIM cards.

Last month, the Cyber Crime Wing busted the network operating in the Stateusing SIM boxes and facilitating Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls on behalf of cyber criminals operating outside the country.

Several arrested

After conducting searches, the police arrested six suspects from Thanjavur, Ramanathapuram, Madurai, and Chennai, and dismantled 14 high-capacity SIM boxes.

Initially, the police arrested two persons — Habeeb Nainam, 41, in Chittarkottai, Ramanathapuram district, and P. Vinoth, 31, in Mogur village, Pattukottai. They were in possession of SIM boxes that they received from contacts in Chinathrough courier from Hwang Ho district. They operated those boxes in gated communities in places including Kanathur, Kelambakkam and Madurai.

The police said the Chinese mastermind promised a commission. When they did not receive the commission, they decided to return the boxes. An unknown Chinese national instructed them to hand over the boxes to Sarath Kumar and his brother Immanuel, who stored them at their residence.

A bank manager in Villivakkam and staff of the Airtel showroom in Sivaganga were also arrested in the case.

“Calls from foreign and spoofed local numbers had reduced considerably because of algorithms deployed at the gateways by the Telecom department and telecom service providers. To bypass this, the cyber crime syndicates are now trying to set up SIM box networks in the country. Even blocked SIM cards can be used through them. Additional Director-General of Police, Cyber Crime Wing, Sandeep Mittal told The Hindu.

“We need to investigate further now. It has to be examined in a laboratory-simulated environment. If it’s activated, it may try to connect with servers in China, and they could attempt to kill the circuit from their end. So, we have to create a test pad — a controlled environment — where the signal should not go out. For that, we’ve already spoken to a few organisations, and they’ve agreed to help us,” he saidlaunching further probe in the case.

The police said the cyber criminals are operating from cyber slave scam centres in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

Recently, the Cyber Crime Police had arrested four engineers who serviced SIM boxes for call centre firms.