9 held for using customer details to issue SIM cards for fraud

Kolkata: Bidhannagar cyber cell has nabbed nine persons — all employees of a mobile service provider — for allegedly setting up SIM card kiosks and taking details of customers, only to deny them new connections. Instead, the accused initiated the new connections and sold them to cyber gangs to carry out illegal activities."During investigation, we came across a gang that issued SIM cards for illegal activities in different parts of Bidhannagar and Kolkata. Nine persons have been arrested," an officer said."Those arrested were freelancers and team leaders of a telecommunications service provider who used to issue SIM cards dynamically at certain pockets, not at any static shop. They used to collect unique details from customers. But after some steps, they used to tell customers their requests for new SIM cards could not be processed due to technical glitch. As soon as the customers left, the accused would complete the process and activate the SIM cards. They issued SIM cards to other people," an officer said. — Dwaipayan Ghosh