Mumbai link emerges from ISD scam cases detected in Kanpur, Lucknow and Delhi

After MiD DAY uncovered an ISD calling card multi-crore scam, investigations in the case have pointed to a possible city-based kingpin who operated and executed the entire scam.

According to investigations, this unidentified Mumbai-based man not only sourced the international and satellite numbers, but also procured and provided the privileged SIM cards to the calling squad.


The report yesterday

He also selected and appointed calling squads in cities across the nation, including Kanpur, Lucknow and Delhi.

MiD DAY had also found the account details of two city-based operators who made international calls and received handsome commission for the operation.

Uttar Pradesh ATS officer Rajeev Sabhrawal confirmed the detection of similar earlier cases.

He said, "During the investigation in the Lucknow case, we found that the SIM cards used to make calls were provided by a Mumbai man. Even in the Delhi and Kanpur cases, the SIM cards were provided by the Mumbai man, who is at large."

While the case in Lucknow was detected in January this year, a similar scam was busted in Delhi in 2009.
The common link in both cases was that the SIM cards were sourced from Mumbai.

In June 2009, five people, including an NRI, were arrested in Kanpur as part of a multi-crore scam.

The CBI had investigated the case and found that the accused tampered with computers of a telecom service provider to make international calls and operate chat lines.

They made calls to Congo, Sierra Leone and Somalia on some premium rate numbers. And hence subscribers
of these international numbers were getting huge payment by telephone operators without paying at the caller's end.