Overview
- The cyber unit arrested four people and seized 10 SIM‑box devices with capacity for 320 SIM/e‑SIM connections from two apartments in Whitefield on Thursday.
- Police say the setup combined physical SIM‑box hardware with e‑SIM provisioning to run many simultaneous mobile lines while hiding call origins, a method commonly used to mask scam calls.
- Investigators traced procurement and e‑SIM conversion leads to Tiroda in Gondia district, Maharashtra, and suspect the arrested individuals were involved in the supply chain.
- Preliminary agency statements flag possible links to digital‑arrest scams, sextortion and other financial cyberfrauds with potential exposure in the hundreds of crores, but victim counts and actual losses remain unverified.
- The case began after an Airtel complaint in August and the joint DoT–police operation that followed; ongoing forensics could widen the probe and prompt tighter telecom controls and cross‑state coordination.