A suspected illegal call-routing network, equipped with six SIM boxes capable of operating 192 SIM cards simultaneously, has been unearthed by Lucknow Police following coordinated raids at four locations across the city.
The seized equipment could have been used to route fraudulent calls through internet connections and conceal the callers’ actual locations, police said.
Police also seized a locked tablet, Wi-Fi routers, cameras and other electronic equipment. A police team subsequently conducted coordinated searches at the four premises. “The use of SIM boxes in illegal calling arrangements can facilitate large-scale calls and conceal their actual source. An FIR has been registered at the Cyber Police Station in Lucknow, and further investigation is underway.
The operation, conducted jointly by the cyber police station and cybercrime cell on Saturday, led to the recovery of six 32-port SIM boxes, three VPN gateways, 21 smart switches, three smart hubs, four inverters/UPS units and 18 batteries.
The raids were conducted at Swati Apartment in Sushant Golf City, Ashirwad Building in Adarsh Vihar (Para), Gold Line Apartment in BBD and GJ Paradise in Adarsh Nagar (Chinhat), according to police press notes. “The recovery assumes significance amid the growing use of digital arrest scams, in which fraudsters impersonate police officers, CBI officials and other government authorities to intimidate victims over phone calls and extort money,” said ADCP (Crime) Kiran Yadav. Police said the seized equipment was being subjected to detailed technical examination to establish its actual use, identify the SIM cards involved, analyse calling patterns and trace people connected to the network. Such systems can be misused in cybercrimes, including digital arrest frauds,” said Kiran Yadav, nodal officer for cybercrime, Lucknow Police.
