One more accused arrested in OTP Sharing Scam (to Pakistani Intelligence Operatives
Bureau,Odishabarta
Bhubaneswar:STF arrested Mohammad Ekbal Hussain from Gandhua Pathar, PO: Hatijujua P.S: Jajori, District: Nagaon, Assam on 19th Sept. He was produced before local court in Nagaon, Assam and was brought to Bhubaneswar after getting 5 days transit remand.
He will be produced before Bhubaneswar court today. Earlier Six accused persons were arrested in this case (previous Press notes enclosed below). Ref: – STF P.S Case No.10/2023).
Ekbal hussain was in touch with Earlier arrested accused Abhijit Desmukh . He was also in touch with Khurram @ Abdul Hamid (Pakistan Intelligence Officer). He has sold many WhatsApp Account OTP, Telegram Account OTP and Mule / Ghost Account directly to Hamid.
After arrest of the principal accused Pathani Samanta Lenka and his associates, accused Mohammed Ikbal Hussain switched off his phone and went underground.
It was found that he has used at least 37 IMEI Nos (handset) and more than 500 SIMs.
He confessed his guilt and stated that he sells OTPs of WhtsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Twitter , Instagram , Fake activated SIM , Mule / Ghost Account etc. since 02 years and earns Rs.50, 000/- to Rs.60, 000/- per month.
He further disclosed that in his village i.e. Gandhua Pathar, District: Nagaon, Assam, almost all adult male persons are involved this type of Cyber-crime.
He and other cyber criminals of his village generally use SIM Nos / Mobile Handsets for around a month and then destroy them by throwing them into river.
Previous Press Note
One more accused arrested (from Pune) in OTP Sharing Scam (to Pakistani Intelligence Operatives, STF P.S Case No.10/2023).
STF arrested another accused in the above mentioned case. Earlier five accused were arrested in this case (previous Press notes enclosed below).
STF arrested Abhijeet Sanjay Jambure from Pune, Maharashtra on 29th June. He was produced before local court in Pune and was brought to Bhubaneswar after getting 3 days transit remand. He will be produced before Bhubaneswar court today.
Earlier a NBW (Non Bailable warrant) was issued against him by the court in Bhubaneswar. He is a resident of Satara district of Maharashtra. He is a Post Graduate in Statistics fromSardarVallabhbhai Patel University,Ananda, Gujarat. Currently he was working in EXL Service (a Software company) in Pune.
He was in regular touch with two Pakistani Intelligence/ Pakistani Army Intelligence Officials since long. In 2018, he met One Danish @ Syed Danish Ali Naqviof Khanki, Faislabad, Pakistan through Facebook messenger, who identified himself as Freelancer at “Chegg” (“Chegg is an American education technology company).Abhijeet had shared his used id and Password of “Chegg” to Danish. Danish was working(solving problem/ questions etc.) in Chegg on Abhijeet’s identity but the earning was credited in the Abhijeet’s account in India. However to return this “favour”, Abhijeet had to do some “work” for Danish.
Danish introduced him to his friend namely Khurram @ Abdul Hamid of Karachi, Pakistan.Khurram is believed to be a senior Pakistan Army intelligence officer having big base/ network of agents in India.And as per instruction of Khurram, he used to transfermoney to various PIOs working in India.
Abhijeet also talked with at least 7 Pakistan citizens and 10 Nigerian Citizens ( T) WhatsApp. Further investigation is on.
Previous Press Note dated 21.06.2023
Crypto trade worth more than Rs One Crore detected in OTP Sharing Scam (to Pakistani Intelligence Operatives, STF P.S Case No.10/2023).
During investigation of the above case (previous Press notes dated 14.05.2023, 8.6.2023 & 11.06.2023 attached) , it was found that the two accused namely PritamKar of Jajpur and Saroj Kumar Nayak of Nayagarh have been involved in Crypto trading through various Indian and foreign Exchanges. Investigations revealed that the accused PritamKar had signed up with a leading Crpto Exchange using E- Mail ID. Two Bank accounts and one UPI ID of the accused was linked with the said exchange. On analysis of the Crypto trade history of the particular ID ,it came to surface that in the time period of two years, the volume of trade in the account was more than Rs 1 Crore.
The account had redflag areas in terms of crypto deposits from unidentified sources majorly from exchanges namely Coinbase, FTX and Bitmart all located outside India and also transfer of Crpto assets to exchanges out of India. Further, Investigations revealed that, the accused PritamKar was referred by a dubious person on the Crypto platform, having a referral history of thousands of people. The said matter is under investigation.
Investigations revealed that the accused Saroj Kumar Nayak of Nayagarh, had signed in a leading crypto exchange using E-mail ID. His User ID is linked with two saving Bank accounts number and two UPI ID’s. The volume of Crpto trade is nearly Rs 3 lakhs. In this case too, INR was withdrawn using Crpto exchanges based outside India.
In this regard, both the Crypto accounts of accused PritamKar and Saroj Kumar Nayak was blocked by STF.
