VoIP scam busted in Ahmedabad, gang uses fake TRAI threats to cheat thousands

AHMEDABAD: A sophisticated cybercrime involving Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calling scam — was dismantled in the city which cheated citizens by impersonating officials and threatening to block their sim cards.

Two alleged members of a cybercrime gang, Lovekesh Kumar and Anubhav Gupta (also referred to as Anurag Gupta), were arrested earlier in Delhi and Uttarakhand respectively.

The gang members impersonated as officials fromthe Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and threatened victims that their sim cards would be blocked within two hours. Those who fell prey to this initial threat were then targeted for cyber cheating, including digital arrest and investment fraud.

The operation, running since 2021, involved making fraudulent calls through VoIP from countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, and Hong Kong. These international calls were routed through servers in Germany and then to a server located in a building near PERD centre in Thaltej.

“The choice of Ahmedabad city as a hub was due to the city’s STD '79' prefix, which usedto create an impression that the calls were local mobile numbers. They planned to expand similar operations to Indore and Bangalore,” said a senior police official.

“The two suspects were in contact with Cindy Wan, their Chinese associate,who had instructed them to provide certain services. They are also linked to criminal gangs operating in Thailand, Malaysia, Iran, and Iraq,” said cyber crime DCP Lavina Sinha.

The criminals used Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) lines for VoIP calls, initially purchasing 500 sessions and planning to expand. After a tip off from the Gujarat ATS, a raid was at the Thaltej building where three servers were located. Assistant police commissioner H S Makadia and inspector J P Thakor, along with their teams, used technical and human intelligence to identify the suspects.

A company for this operation was established by Kumar and Taruna Wadhwa. They initially had 1500 call lines and later added two more, allowing for up to 4500 simultaneous calls. This meant making around 65,000 calls daily between April 20 and 24 targeting people across India.

Kumar had a previous visa fraud case against him in Karnal in Haryana. His accomplice Anubhav Gupta from Dehradun, provided technical support. Gupta was earlier booked for a similar crime in Sonipat, from which he was bailed in March 2023.