Int’l cyber fraud syndicate using terror threats dismantled; 7 apprehended

NEW DELHI: The IFSO cell of the Delhi Police’s Special Cell has dismantled a highly sophisticated international cyber fraud syndicate that exploited fear, terrorism-related narratives and advanced telecom manipulation to extort citizens across India.

Seven people, including a Taiwanese national, have been arrested in the case, which investigators describe as a serious national security threat driven by illegal SIMBOX networks. Police said the syndicate had been running the notorious “digital arrest” scam since September 2025.

Victims received calls from fraudsters posing as officers of the Anti-Terrorist Squad, who accused them of links to terror incidents such as the Pahalgam attack and the Delhi blasts. The callers threatened immediate arrest and coerced victims into transferring money in the name of national security. Officials estimate that thousands of people were targeted nationwide, with losses amounting to around Rs 100 crore.

Investigators found that the calls originated from abroad, mainly Cambodia, but were masked as Indian numbers using illegal SIMBOX installations. The syndicate deliberately routed calls over 2G networks to evade detection and used manipulated IMEI numbers that rotated across multiple cities within a single day.

The IFSO unit began probing the racket in October 2025 and traced the first physical hub to Goyla Dairy in southwest Delhi. Raids across the city led to the arrest of two local operators managing SIMBOX setups at several locations.

Further forensic analysis exposed the international scale of the SIMBOX racket, identifying Taiwanese national I-Tsung Chen as its technical backbone. He was arrested at Delhi airport on December 21, 2025, for allegedly smuggling and configuring equipment for large-scale fraud. The probe expanded to Mohali, Coimbatore and Mumbai, uncovering links to Cambodia-based scam centres, Pakistani handlers and a Nepal-based command layer.