West Bengal Police have moved decisively against organised cybercrime in the state, registering 69 FIRs and arresting 107 suspects within a single week under a coordinated statewide operation named Cyber Prahar, targeting a fraud network estimated to involve ₹92.6 crore. Rather than pursuing individual scammers in isolation, the operation deliberately went after the physical and financial scaffolding that allows cyber fraud networks to function at scale: illegal call centres, mule bank accounts, unauthorised SIM outlets and the cash withdrawal points that convert stolen digital money into untraceable currency.
The operation was launched by the Cyber Crime Wing under S4C, West Bengal Police’s specialised cybercrime unit, acting on actionable intelligence that identified specific cybercrime hotspots across the state. Of the 107 total arrests, 40 were made directly by the Cyber Crime Wing itself, with those cases administratively recorded under the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, while additional coordinated raids extended into areas falling under Kolkata Police jurisdiction.
Shutting Down the Call Centres Behind the Calls
Among the operation’s most visible successes was the raiding and closure of three illegal call centres allegedly functioning as active hubs for fraudulent calls and technical support scams. These facilities represent a particular category of cybercrime infrastructure that has proliferated across parts of West Bengal and neighbouring states in recent years, typically staffed by young recruits trained to run scripted deception campaigns against victims often located far from where the calls originate, including internationally.
Investigators are now working through the operational details of each shuttered centre, examining calling patterns, victim profiles and the financial channels through which collected money moved, information expected to feed directly into identifying additional call centres still operating undetected elsewhere in the state.
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Following the Money Through Mule Accounts and ATMs
A central pillar of the operation targeted the financial ecosystem that allows fraud proceeds to move and eventually convert into usable cash. Police examined mule and beneficiary bank accounts suspected of receiving and transferring fraudulent funds, alongside a specific focus on suspicious ATM locations and cash withdrawal points that may have served as conversion points, turning digitally transferred stolen money into physical currency that becomes considerably harder to trace once withdrawn.
This targeting of withdrawal infrastructure reflects an operational insight increasingly common across Indian cybercrime enforcement: freezing an account after money has already been withdrawn in cash offers little practical value, making the withdrawal point itself, not just the receiving account, a critical enforcement target. Bank branches and financial channels suspected of facilitating this movement have also come under direct scrutiny as part of the broader sweep.
Cutting Off the SIM Cards That Enable Anonymity
Operation Cyber Prahar simultaneously targeted the telecommunications layer underpinning organised fraud, taking action against outlets allegedly involved in issuing SIM cards illegally, including Point-of-Sale facilities capable of generating mobile connections that are difficult to trace back to a genuine, verified subscriber. More than 400 SIM cards were deactivated during the week-long operation, directly disrupting the communication channels fraud networks rely on to contact victims while evading straightforward identification.
This SIM-focused enforcement mirrors patterns seen elsewhere in India this year, where investigations into fraud rings have repeatedly traced criminal activity back to SIM cards registered under other people’s identities, often obtained through complicit local agents exploiting weak verification at the point of issuance rather than through any sophisticated technical circumvention.
A Deliberate Shift From Chasing Individuals to Dismantling Systems
West Bengal Police have described Operation Cyber Prahar as reflecting a broader strategic shift toward dismantling the complete infrastructure enabling organised cybercrime, rather than limiting enforcement to individual fraudsters who can be readily replaced within an existing network. By simultaneously disrupting bank accounts, SIM cards, cash withdrawal channels and the physical premises used to run fraudulent operations, the approach aims to weaken the support systems that allow such networks to regenerate quickly after individual arrests.
Officials have indicated the operation remains active, with further raids expected as investigators question the 107 arrested suspects to identify additional network members and establish connections to bank accounts, SIM providers and digital transaction trails that may extend well beyond West Bengal’s borders. Investigators are also examining whether the dismantled networks connect to cybercrime cases reported from other states, a question that could determine whether Cyber Prahar’s findings feed into a larger interstate investigation in the weeks ahead.
