Hyderabad: Cambodia-based cybercrime syndicates have adopted a new tactic to evade Indian authorities — using SIM boxes installed in India to make VoIP calls and carry out “digital arrest” scams.The racket surfaced after the Department of Telecom (DoPT), along with Telangana police, raided a building in Jannaram, Mancherial district, and arrested four men — Y Kamesh (from Manyam district, AP), B Bapaiah, B Madhukar (both from Jagtial), and G Rajeshwar (Kistapur village).The main accused, Jack alias P Sai Krishna, is absconding. Police said Bapaiah had worked at a hotel in Cambodia, where he befriended Jack and was later roped into the scam.Delhi police also visited Mancherial in connection with a separate cybercrime case registered in the national capital.“The DoT-Hyderabad unit received a complaint via the Chakshu portal about impersonation calls from people posing as government officials threatening mobile disconnection,” said Mancherial DCP A Bhaskar.When DoPT authorities analysed the technical details, by tracing IMEI numbers and the SIM boxes, it led them to Jannaram. On reaching the spot, police found SIM boxes in a single room of the building. One SIM box had 230 SIMs. Cops tracked down the people who had taken the premises on rent and created the set-up.“In just two hours, call activity totalled 50,000 seconds. This means that 40 to 50 people were simultaneously making calls to prospective cybercrime victims in India,’’ said Alen Anurag, additional director general, DoPT. The SIM cards were fraudulently sourced from Vizianagaram in AP, he added.On interrogation, the four accused revealed they were working for Cambodia-based cybercrime rings. “Jack had tasked Bapaiah with setting up SIM box infrastructure to enable VoIP calls from Cambodia. Kamesh, a victim of online betting, joined in to recoup his losses. They were promised salaries of Rs 30,000–70,000, along with a share in the fraud proceeds,” a police official said.
