88-year-old Delhi man loses mobile, then Rs 70,000 vanishes from his bank account: How this fraud led to a pan-India cyberfraud gang that uses victims' stolen phones to steal money

An 88-year-old West Patel Nagar resident lost his mobile phone on 19 May. Two days later, after getting his SIM card reissued, he received bank alerts for three unauthorised transactions totalling Rs 70,000. What began as a routine theft complaint ended with Delhi Police dismantling a pan-India cyberfraud syndicate operating across three states, with nine arrests and a Jaipur call centre at its centre.The Times of India reported the bust.How the Delhi cyberfraud syndicate workedThe operation ran in three distinct layers, according to Delhi Police.The first layer consisted of phone thieves who stole handsets and passed them up the chain. The second layer, based in Meerut and Ghaziabad, supplied the financial infrastructure needed to move and withdraw stolen money: mule bank accounts, debit cards, fake SIM cards, and point-of-sale machines. The third layer operated out of a call-centre-style setup in Jhotwara, Jaipur, where members accessed victims' banking apps on the stolen phones, routed unauthorised transactions through mule accounts, and withdrew funds using POS machines and online payment channels.DCP (Central) Rohit Rajbir Singh formed two investigation teams after the case was registered. The probe mapped out the syndicate's structure before police moved to make arrests.Delhi Police raids and arrestsA raid on residential premises in Jhotwara, Jaipur, led to the arrest of the alleged principal operator, Nikhil Soni, along with four associates. Police found a functioning setup equipped with laptops, tablets, and routers. Also recovered were passbooks, personal diaries containing victims' details, and Rs 4 lakh in cash.A second team simultaneously conducted raids across multiple locations in Ghaziabad and Meerut, arresting four alleged suppliers of the mule account network identified as Amar Jatav, Harsh, Mohan, and Vashu.What police seized in the raidsPolice seized six POS machines before the gang could destroy digital evidence. In total, the recovery included 52 mobile phones still containing banking apps, WhatsApp logs, and owners' data, along with 145 SIM cards, 70 debit cards, 13 bank passbooks, four routers, and six laptops and tablets. Digital forensic analysis of the seized devices is ongoing.How widespread is this fraud network?Investigators have so far linked the syndicate to 19 complaints registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal across multiple states, indicating that the 88-year-old's case was one of many.The method the gang used, targeting stolen phones that still had active banking apps and WhatsApp accounts tied to registered mobile numbers, allowed them to bypass conventional security steps that rely on OTPs sent to the phone itself. Once in possession of the handset and a reissued or cloned SIM, accessing linked bank accounts required minimal technical effort.Police said the investigation is continuing.(With inputs from TOI)