Jalgaon resident arrested for selling SIM card to fraudster in Rajasthan

MUMBAI: A resident of Jalgaon was arrested on March 9 for selling a SIM card to a fraudster in Rajasthan, who used it to deceive a senior citizen from Bandra (West) and steal Rs1.77 lakhs between Dec 27, 2023, and Jan 1. The accused, Ajay Birhade (25), was identified using the activation details of the SIM card provided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) from Jalgaon.The victim, Moosa Shaikh (72), fell prey to the fraudster who pretended to be his friend, Madhukar Gavit, a retired government official. The fraudster created a fake social media page to communicate and deceive Shaikh.
Shaikh received a message on his social media messenger on December 27 from someone claiming to be Gavit. The imposter informed Shaikh that a CISF officer named Santosh Kumar in Punjab wanted to sell his furniture, electronic goods, and other household items as he was being transferred. The police officer at the Bandra police station stated, 'Birhade, who holds a postgraduate degree in MA, used to sell SIM cards to fraudsters in Rajasthan for Rs1,000 each. He has sold approximately 450 SIM cards to fraudsters in Rajasthan, and one of those cards was used to deceive Shaikh.'
The fraudster, posing as Gavit, convinced Shaikh to purchase household goods by assuring him of their good condition. On Dec 30, Shaikh received a video call from someone claiming to be Santosh Kumar from CISF, who informed him that he had received the details from Gavit about Shaikh's interest in buying a double bed, sofa set, dining table, refrigerator, wardrobe, washing machine, inverter battery, split AC, and Samsung LED TV for Rs65,000. Shaikh was also asked to pay Rs31,500 for transportation. Despite having little interest in buying the goods, Shaikh was deceived by the impersonator.
The following day, Shaikh received a call from the same person asking when he would make the purchase. Shaikh's relative, who was present at the time, expressed interest in buying the goods and transferred the money. The fraudster quickly deleted all the chats and cut off communication. Realizing he had been tricked, Shaikh filed a complaint with the Bandra police on January 1.
Based on Shaikh's complaint, DCP (Zone IX) RajTilak Roshan supervised a team consisting of Bandra police senior inspector Sanjay Marathe, sub-inspector Shankar Patil, and the cyber team. They tracked Birhade to Jalgaon on Mar 9. Interrogating Birhade helped the cyber wing of the Bandra police discover that he had sold at least 450 SIM cards to fraudsters in Rajasthan, which they used for various online scams. 'The same SIM card that Birhade sold for Rs1,000 was later sold to the fraudster in Rajasthan for Rs10,000,' said a police officer.
Birhade is now in judicial custody.