CHENNAI: A complaint filed a year ago by an alert 21-year-old woman in Villupuram, who grew suspicious about her details being misused for illicit activities, has led to the CB-CID uncovering a gang that collected around 2,600 SIM cards from gullible people across Tamil Nadu and smuggled it to Cambodia for use in cyber scam compounds.
A few weeks ago, the agency arrested two key accused in the case, Vignesh and Ranganathan, who had allegedly smuggled the SIM cards to Cambodia. Incidentally, the duo is also under the CB-CID’s scanner for sending individuals to work in the scam compounds in Laos and Cambodia, where they are used for cyber crimes, and collecting commission for it, sources said.
CB-CID is the designated agency for investigating the cyber ‘slavery’ cases where many job-seekers from Tamil Nadu are lured to cyber scam compounds in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. These job-seekers are then used for carrying out ‘digital arrest’, trading app, and other types of cyber scams on fellow Indians using SIM cards smuggled from India, investigators said.
The case originated in Vikravandi in Villupuram district in June 2024, when the 21-year-old English graduate working in a sweet shop was approached by Raj, Kiruba, Anbarasan, Sathishkumar and Tamilselvan for procuring SIM cards for starting a ‘tele-calling’ business.
When she agreed to help, they took her to a footwear shop where her biometrics and photograph were taken. The complainant said that she was requested to come to that place multiple times and 10 SIM cards were totally procured in her name.
Later, she heard from some relatives that the men had procured multiple SIM cards from many people in a similar manner and sold it to one Sathiyamoorthy for a profit.
Worried that the SIM cards issued in her name would be used in some crimes, she lodged a complaint with the cops. A case was registered by the Villupuram cybercrime police station under sections for cheating and the IT Act.
Sathiyamoorthy, Raj, Kiruba, Anbarasan, Sathishkumar and Tamilselvan were arraigned as accused in the case.
In 2025, the case was transferred by the DGP in February to CB-CID, which began probing various links in the case and traced out six more accused, including Vignesh, Ranganathan and one Mustaq Alam.
A probe by the CB-CID’s cyber cell wing showed that the three accused had obtained SIM cards sourced by many middlemen like Sathiyamoorthy and sold it to an agent coordinating with the Cambodian scam compounds.
The agency has traced the sale of 2,600 SIM cards by this gang. In addition, Vignesh and Ranganathan were found to be sending people to Cambodia to work in scam compounds, for which the latter even received a commission of Rs 1.2 lakh. They are also under investigation in a similar case registered by the Tiruvarur unit of the CB-CID, sources said.
Further investigation by CB-CID is under way in this case, sources added.