Pre-activated SIM cards would be sent through courier from Calcutta to Phnom Penh in Cambodia to cyber crooks who would allegedly use them to call Indians and cheat them, police have learnt following the arrest of four persons from
parts of South 24-Parganas on Monday.

“Once these SIM cards reached the criminals in Cambodia, they would use them for different types of cyber crimes, including fraudulent investments and ‘digital arrests’,” said a senior officer of Kolkata Police.

Digital arrest is a term used in a particular type of cyber scam where fraudsters pose as law enforcement officials or government agencies and intimidate and defraud people.

“The SIMs would be hidden in the lids of filter coffee bottles and sent through courier,” the officer said.

The police said the modus operandi first came to light sometime in March this year when the police team intercepted a consignment of 361 pre-activated SIM cards that were headed for Cambodia.

The bulk of these cards — 243 — were bought from the city.

During the investigation, the police identified a group of men who were behind this and arrested six persons from different parts of the city.

The team of officers from the anti-bank fraud wing of the Kolkata Police’s detective department started investigating the case further as complaints of fraudulent investments by callers, who seemed difficult to trace, started pouring in.

While the SIM numbers were of Indian service providers, the calls were traced to callers residing abroad, the police said.

On Monday, the team learnt about four persons who were allegedly involved in sending over the pre-activated SIM cards to Cambodia. They hailed parts of Mandirbazar, Raidighi, Mathurapur and Bishnupur in South 24-Parganas.

“The four arrested persons have revealed the names of some of those who had engaged them for this work. The names include a few foreign nationals as well,” the officer said.

“We are in the process of identifying more members of this group.”