THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The cyber wing of state police has uncovered the identity of around 50 Keralites, including women, working for Cambodia-based operators engaged in running online financial rackets. Some of the companies are owned and operated by Chinese nationals, who employ Keralites to target fellow compatriots.
Those associated with these firms are mostly in the 20-30 age bracket and are responsible for collecting details of potential victims, procuring Indian SIM cards, and luring the gullible into investing money in fraudulent schemes, police sources said.
The modus operandi of the scamsters emerged during the interrogation of a 22-year-old man, who was arrested by Thrissur Rural police on Wednesday. Mufliq, a native of Varkala, was detained based on information provided by the cyber wing. He was picked up upon his return from Cambodia, where he had worked for about six months.
Mufliq, according to Mala station inspector Sunil Pulickal, was instrumental in procuring Indian SIMs from a vendor in Kilimanoor, Thiruvananthapuram. These SIMs were activated by his handlers in Cambodia and used to lure victims.
The initial inquiry revealed that 59 SIM cards were obtained from Kerala using bogus documents. The vendor, Vishnu, a native of Kilimanoor, has also been arrested.
Sunil Pulickal said Mufliq paid Vishnu Rs 600 for each SIM card, procured using documents that his customers had furnished earlier to activate their SIM cards.
Using these SIM cards the scamsters conned people of several lakhs of rupees. As many as three cases have been registered against Mufliq in connection with the fraud.
The cyber wing found that scammers used Indian SIM cards to contact their victims. Keralites working for the firms collected details of potential victims from their social media accounts. They then contacted them over various social media accounts pretending to be women.
A police source said scamsters sweet-talked their victims into transferring money to their accounts.
“In a case we registered, a victim was defrauded of Rs 3.85 lakh. The scamster, a woman, earned the trust of the victim by impersonating a private bank employee. She requested the victim to open an account with her bank claiming that she would lose her job if she did not meet targets. After opening the account, the victim transferred sums in various instalments,” said the source.
Cyber-wing sources said they are pursuing the matter seriously and other people involved in financial crimes will be brought to book soon.