TIRUNELVELI: Tirunelveli cyber crime police arrested three persons on Monday for allegedly cheating villagers by collecting their phone numbers and promising them gifts in return for paying taxes. The police also arrested another man in connection with the same case, who allegedly sold SIM cards to the miscreants. The suspects were identified as Kaleeswaran, Isakkimuthu, Ayyanar of Sankarankovil, and Thangaraj of Kadayanallur.
According to sources, the trio from Sankarankovil claimed to be operating a firm named Sooriya Company, under which they sold soaps to the residents of Thenkalam village in the district. "They also collected phone numbers from the villagers and stated that they could receive gifts like gold coins, Sony TV, and Scooty by paying tax for it.
After a few days, a villager was asked to pay Rs 36,550 as tax in order to receive his gift. Though the villager paid the said amount, the trio failed to respond. Based on Superintendent of Police P Saravanan's instruction, the district cybercrime police registered a case against the trio under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and 66D of the Information Technology Act and arrested them," said sources.
Based on an inquiry, the police also arrested Thangaraj, who runs a store named 'Digital Mobile City' in Krishnapuram near Kadayanallur, for selling SIM cards to the trio and some other cybercriminals. Thangaraj sold over 150 SIMs to the suspects using identity proofs of several people without their consent and has earned lakhs, the police said demanding the public to check if there are any unauthorised SIM cards in their names on the website https://tafcop.dgtelecom.gov.in/