Nagaland: Police reported on February 16 that a 30-year-old woman from Nagaland was arrested in Gurugram. She is accused of assisting Chinese cyber fraudsters by operating virtual SIM boxes from a rented apartment.
The accused, identified as Kung Panme, hails from Dimapur and currently lives in Sector 28, Gurugram. He was arrested in a joint operation by the Gurugram Police and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
According to police officials, the East Cyber Police Station received specific information on February 10 about a couple operating an illegal telephone exchange from a rented house in Sector 28. Acting on the information, a team led by ACP Priyanshu Dewan raided the location.
During the search, police recovered seven mobile phones, including three smartphones, a keypad phone, three faulty handsets, a WiFi modem, three SIM cards, and a broken laptop. Three of the mobile phones were found to be making automatic calls to Indian numbers using an application called VDMS Apk App.
Initial investigation revealed that the accused, along with her husband, had installed a virtual SIM box setup at a rented premises on behalf of cyber fraudsters operating from China. This system reportedly allowed international Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) calls to be converted into local calls, allowing fraudsters based abroad to target unsuspecting Indian citizens.
Police stated that this network was used to commit various cybercrimes, including digital arrest scams, online gaming fraud, and investment fraud. The woman’s job was reportedly to keep the devices charged and connected to the internet so they could continue to operate uninterrupted, while her husband allegedly received a commission for assisting with the setup.
Officials said such illegal VOIP routing systems are highly advanced and pose serious risks, including threats to national security, as they can be used for secret communications.
