Online fraud: Mumbai cops arrest 8 for porting phone numbers without KYC

According to police officials, the arrested persons include employees of two leading mobile phone service providers and shop owners

Mumbai: The Cyber Police of Mumbai crime branch on Thursday arrested eight people for allegedly porting mobile phone numbers without KYC (Know Your Customer) documents. According to police officials, they provided the numbers to cyber fraudsters to create Whatsapp groups  to cheat people.

The arrested persons include employees of two leading mobile phone service providers and shop owners.

---

“These WhatsApp groups were used to lure people into bogus share investments and trade. The eight-member gang has sold at least 3,000 numbers in this illegal way,” said a police official.

“The fraudsters have cheated people of several crore rupees. The probe began after a man lodged a complaint that he was cheated of Rs 51.33 lakh between May 14 and June 28 this year,” he further said.

“Our probe found that his number was added in a WhatsApp group with the help of a SIM card that was ported illegally using UPC code,” he added.