CBI identifies 64k phone numbers likely used for cybercrimes in SE Asia

Hindustan Times

18-05-2025

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has identified over 64,000 mobile phone numbers that were bought using forged documents and may have been used for cybercrimes in Southeast Asian countries, officials said on Saturday, days after the agency carried out searches at 42 locations in eight states as part of a crackdown on 'digital arrest' scams.
The agency has named 39 point of sales (PoS) agents in an FIR who sold 1,100 'ghost SIM cards' to cybercriminals, after it identified 1,930 PoS agents across the country from where these numbers were purchased. The numbers were used for various criminal activities such as 'digital arrests', impersonation, bogus advertisements, investment and UPI frauds, and opening mule bank accounts, the FIR said. HT has seen a copy of the FIR.
Giving details about the manner in which such crimes are conducted, the agency in its FIR said that cyber criminals use ghost SIM cards to impersonate and conceal their identity, and then target people.
During its searches, the agency analysed complaints made on the National Cyber Crime Reporting portal from 2024 and the list of numbers was then filtered to identify those issued by Indian telecom companies but 'were roaming in South East Asian countries'.
'This analysis yielded 64,223 mobile numbers falling under the said risk parameters. The data suggests that 1,930 PoS across the country were engaged in sale of such SIM cards used for commission of various cybercrimes,' the FIR said.
The PoS agents were earlier investigated and arrested by cyber cells of various state police departments, the FIR said. 'In some cases, 39 agents of PoS used to roam from door to door to sell SIMs,' it added.
The FIR also explained the modus operandi of the criminals: When an individual approached a PoS to procure a SIM card, the agent would tell him that the eKYC had failed; ask to repeat process during which they would issue a ghost SIM to cybercriminals based on the second eKYC. 'The cyber-criminal use eKYC to open a mule bank account and make fraudulent calls,' the FIR said.
The agency said that the role of executives of telecom service providers also needs to be probed in the matter.
On May 10, the agency said that searches were conducted as part of the ongoing 'Operation Chakra V', which is aimed at curbing cybercrimes and digital arrest-related frauds.
The raids were carried out on the premises of various point-of-sale agents of telecom operators in Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, a CBI statement said.