Hyderabad: Cyberabad cops bust data stealing gang

Hyderabad: Cyberabad Police arrested a gang that is involved in committing theft, procuring and selling of sensitive and confidential data of government and important organisations as well as personal and confidential data of 16.8 crore citizens. The police seized 12 mobile phones, three laptops, two CPUs, mails and tax invoices of JustDial.

According to the police, the suspects were found selling information under more than 140 different categories, including details of defence personnel, mobile numbers of citizens, database of students, women and government employees, applicants of loans, insurance, credit or debit card. "The gang was also selling a database of WhatsApp and Facebook users, IT employees, PAN card, energy and power sector etc," said Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Raveendra.

Data related to 1.2 crore WhatsApp users was found while information including age, email id, phone number of 17 lakh Facebook users was also unearthed from the suspects who allegedly operated through three registered and unregistered companies, including Data Mart Infotech, Global Data Arts and MS Digital Grow. 

The accused are selling the data through JustDial and similar platforms. When any individual calls the toll-free numbers of JustDial and asks for any sector or category related confidential data of individuals, their query is listed and sent to that category of service provider. These fraudsters call those clients and send them samples. If the client agrees to purchase, they make payment and are provided the data. This data is further used for committing crime, police claimed.

The investigators suspect the mobile number database of 3 crore individuals was leaked from the telecom service providers and which could be used for committing various crimes. Further, credit card and debit cards data of reputed financial institutions was found in possession of the suspects.

Stephen Raveendra said data pertaining to defence and government employees could be used for espionage, impersonation and for serious offences that could jeopardize national security. "Data of NEET students with their names, father name, mobile number and residence also found with them. The data related to the PAN card is being used to commit a large number of cybercrimes," he said.

The arrested suspects included Kumar Nitish Bhushan who established a call centre in Noida, Uttar Pradesh and collected credit card databases, Kumari Pooja Pal a tele-caller, Susheel Thomar, a data entry operator, Atul Pratap Singh who collected data of credit card holders and sold it, Muskan Hassan who sold data as a mediator, Sandeep Pal who established Global Data Arts and sold customers confidential data to fraudsters who indulge in cyber offences and Zia Ur Rehman who provided bulk messaging services for promotions and also shared the database.