The Delhi Police Claimed to have unearthed a syndicate involved in the digital arrest and investment scam in collaboration with criminals based abroad, it said on Tuesday.
As part of a crackdown on cyber frauds in the national capital, the police dismantled Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) numbers and terminals used to route fraudulent calls. The SIP acts like a bridge between the phone system and the internet, allowing anyone to make calls through a computer or special phone devices and offers features like call forward and voicemail, similar to a regular phone service but online.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer North) Nidhin Valsan said the breakthrough came after a complaint was filed on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal regarding a financial fraud of Rs 94,000.
The complainant received a call from a number impersonating officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on December 19, the officer said.
The scammers falsely claimed that her mobile number was being misused for illegal activities and threatened her with arrest unless she made payments. Fearing consequences, she transferred the money via UPI to accounts under different names, he said.
Following the complaint, an FIR was registered under relevant sections of the BNS at the Cyber police station of Outer North district and an investigation was launched.
Using money trails, and call detail records, the police traced the cyber criminals and their SIP trunking operations, leading to the arrest of Ajaydeep, Abhishek Srivastava and Ashutosh Bora, the DCP mentioned
Ajaydeep, a B Tech and MBA graduate, who formerly worked for an NGO, had rented an office in Lucknow for SIP trunk calls services, while Abhishek, trained in computer and CCTV hardware repair, assisted in setting up SIP-based infrastructure, the official stated.
Ashutosh, a law student from Gurugram, was the key facilitator for international cyber criminals. He facilitated SIP services for cyber criminals operating in Cambodia, Thailand, and Canada and was directly linked to international cyber gangs, they added.
The officer said the scam was executed through SIP trunking, a technology used for Voice over Internet Protocol calls. The accused exploited SIP services to facilitate illegal call terminations, which made it seem like the calls were from legitimate Indian landline numbers.