5 arrested for duping people using pre-activated SIM cards

kolkata: Kolkata Police has busted a racket that was using pre-activated SIM cards to dupe several people.

The SIM cards were being activated using forged Aadhaar cards. According to police, recently a complaint was lodged at the Parnasree police station against unknown fraudsters who duped a person worth Rs 20 lakh in the name of KYC update.

While probing the case, cops found that the money was transferred to several e-wallets which were activated using multiple SIM cards. Cops also came to know that the employees of several e-wallet service providers are being given targets to open new e-wallets. To fulfill the targets, they buy pre-activated SIM cards.

However, those SIM cards are not sent to the e-wallet activators. While opening an e-wallet, the OTP is being shared by the distributor who activates a SIM card using a forged Aaadhar card.

Police have arrested the manager of a mobile service provider store and three dealer and seller of SIM cards.

Also an employee of an e-wallet service provider, who used to activate such wallets using pre-activated SIM cards, was nabbed.

Police suspect that after people are duped in the name of KYC update and other tricks, the money is being transferred into these e-wallets. Cops also suspect that several such SIM cards have already been handed over to the fraudsters in Jamtara, Jharkhand.