Indore (Madhya Pradesh): City crime branch arrested three more people from Seoni in connection with online fraud (Digital Arrest) case of Rs 1.6 crore involving a city woman a few months ago. The accused had reportedly provided more than 450 SIM cards to the online fraud gang and had sent all these SIM cards to gang members in Laos.

So far, 16 people have been arrested in connection with the case. It is being supsected that the mastermind is in Laos  DCP (crime) Rajesh Kumar Tripathi said that a special team was constituted for the investigation in the online fraud cases.

Following a tip-off, Gaurav Tiwari, a resident of Kurai in Seoni district, Yogesh Patle and Sujal Suryawanshi all residents of Seoni district were arrested and they were brought to the city on Tuesday. She was duped by the conman, who posed themselves as CBI and RBI officers and they had threatened him of implicating in a money laundering case a few months ago. The woman was digitally arrested through the video calls at her place. 13 accused were already arrested in the case.

Collected SIM cards after starting free card camp

Gaurav allegedly informed the crime branch officers that he used to perform his duty as a pandit in Kurai village. Later, he worked as a salesman in a company there. He used to run a mobile phone accessories and repair shop there. In July 2024, he started working as a POS agent of a telecom company. Meanwhile, he met another accused Yogesh, who told him that he needed the mobile SIM cards and he had offered Rs 350 for one SIM card.  

Gaurav and Yogesh later started a camp in the rural areas in the name of issuing SIM cards free of cost. They used to do e-kyc and then they did d-kyc. Officials said that the SIM cards gets activated within minutes after e-kyc but it takes hours after one does a d-kyc of the customer. The accused used to keep the SIM cards activated through d-kyc and customers were unaware about the same.    

SIM card of woman used in making video calls    

The officials said that the SIM card issued in the name of a woman from the rural area of Seoni was used by the conman for making video calls in the case. The SIM card was issued by Gaurav and Yogesh and they had provided it to their accomplice Sujal. Later, they provided the SIM card to the online fraud gang. So far, Gaurav had provided 450 SIM cards and took Rs 1 lakh for the same. Yogesh informed the crime branch officials that he used to work as a promoter with a telecom company so he was connected with many people. He was contacted by the online fraud gang members, who had asked him to provide 20 SIM cards for making video calls to the people.

Then, he had provided the numbers with Whatsapp OTPs to the gang member. The gang members again asked him to provide 100 numbers and offered Rs 500 per number. Then, Yogesh contacted Gaurav and offered to give him Rs 350 per SIM card.  Sujal informed the officials that he with the help of Yogesh and Gaurav took SIM cards and provided them to the people in Laos and many states of the country.