Cops bust cross-border cyber fraud network, three key suspects arrested
New Delhi: In a significant breakthrough, the Cyber-Crime Police Station of Outer North Delhi has dismantled a large-scale digital fraud operation, arresting three key suspects from Lucknow (U.P.) and Karnal (Haryana) for impersonating as TRAI officers and CBI officers.
The police were informed about the fraud through a complaint registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
The accused were identified as Ajaydeep (32) son of Jagdish Prasad resident of Rajajipuram, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Abhishek Srivastava (34) son of Santosh Kumar Srivastava resident of Krishna Nagar, Mirjapur, Uttar Pradesh, Ashutosh Bora (30) son of Narinder Singh resident of New Palam Vihar, Sec-110, Gurugram, Haryana.
According to the police reports, the criminals, who impersonated TRAI and CBI officers, were involved in a digital arrest scam facilitated through illegal Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking services.
This operation has resulted in the seizure of 1,000 SIP numbers and terminals, disrupting a nationwide criminal network.
The fraudsters used SIP technology to spoof Indian landline numbers, making it almost impossible to trace the source of the calls. These fraudulent calls
were routed through offshore servers in Cambodia, Thailand, and Canada, targeting victims across India.
The scammers threatened victims with arrest for alleged criminal activities involving their mobile numbers and demanded money to avoid legal consequences. In one case, a victim in Lucknow was defrauded of 94,000 rupees after receiving such a call.
The police investigation, initiated by a complaint filed on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, led to the identification of the main suspects, Ajaydeep, Abhishek Srivastava, and Ashutosh Bora. The trio were arrested during raids conducted on January 29 and February 2, 2025.
Ajaydeep and Abhishek were responsible for setting up the infrastructure for SIP trunking, while Ashutosh
played a key role in connecting the fraudsters to international networks involved in the operation.
The investigation revealed that the operation used over 5000 SIP numbers to make more than 200,000 fraudulent calls across India.
During the raids, police seized several items, including mobile phones, laptops, routers, and switches, as well as documents and rent agreements used to sustain the fraud network.
