The Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch, with inputs from the Gujarat ATS, dismantled a sophisticated Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)-based cybercrime ring operating from a building near PERD Centre in Thaltej, Ahmedabad. The gang impersonated Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) officials to defraud victims by issuing fake SIM deactivation threats.
Victims were told that their SIM cards would be blocked within two hours due to alleged regulatory violations. This created panic, which the criminals then exploited to execute digital arrest and fake investment scams, extracting personal and financial data from unsuspecting individuals.
The scam had been running since 2021, with VoIP calls originating from countries including Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iran, Iraq, China, and Hong Kong. These calls were routed through German servers and redirected to Ahmedabad servers, giving them the appearance of legitimate Indian mobile numbers due to Ahmedabad’s STD code ’79’.
Arrests, Global Ties, and Expansion Plans Uncovered
Two key accused — Lovekesh Kumar, previously arrested in Delhi, and Anubhav (aka Anurag) Gupta, arrested in Uttarakhand — have been identified as the masterminds. They were allegedly in direct contact with Chinese national Cindy Wan, who provided operational instructions and connected them to international criminal gangs operating in Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, and Thailand.
The gang used Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) lines, initially operating with 500 sessions, and later scaling up to handle 4,500 concurrent calls across India. According to Cyber Crime DCP Lavina Sinha, the infrastructure allowed them to place approximately 65,000 calls daily between April 20 and 24 alone.
The cyber cell’s technical and field surveillance, led by ACP H.S. Makadia and Inspector J.P. Thakor, led to the identification and seizure of three servers at the Thaltej location. These servers were used to spoof legitimate numbers and evade detection by security systems.
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Shell Company, Prior Cases, and Legal Action
The cybercriminals operated under a shell company formed by Lovekesh Kumar and Taruna Wadhwa, which masked their illegal VoIP setup as a legitimate business. Kumar, a resident of Karnal, Haryana, already had a visa fraud case pending against him. His accomplice, Anubhav Gupta, a telecom expert from Dehradun, was out on bail since March 2023 after being arrested in a similar cybercrime case in Sonipat.
Police officials said that the Ahmedabad hub was only the beginning. The duo had planned expansion to cities like Indore and Bangalore, replicating the VoIP scam using similar setups.
Legal proceedings have been initiated under IT Act, Indian Penal Code (IPC), and the Indian Telegraph Act, and further arrests are expected as the investigation expands.