Delhi: Cyber fraud racket busted; two held for SIM card porting, bank fraud

The Delhi Police has arrested two men of an organised cyber fraud racket involving fraudulent SIM card porting and unauthorised access to banking applications, an official said on Wednesday.

Police said that the arrest were made in connection with a Rs 38-lakh online fraud case.

“An e-FIR was registered on January 12 following a complaint by a victim who reported illegal financial transactions from his bank accounts,” the officer said.

According to the police, the fraud took place between December 30, 2025 and January 12, during which the accused allegedly gained unauthorised access to the complainant’s mobile phone and linked banking applications.

The victim was deceived through social media calls and messages on false assurances and was manipulated into unknowingly sharing access and control of his device. The accused then diverted SMS alerts and call forwarding services before fraudulently porting the complainant’s SIM card to a source location in Jamtara, Jharkhand.

“Using the compromised SIM and banking credentials, the accused transferred a total of Rs 38.10 lakh from multiple bank accounts of the complainant through IMPS, NEFT and UPI transactions to various beneficiary accounts,” the officer said.

During scrutiny of bank statements, investigators identified a key beneficiary account in a government in which Rs 99,999 had been credited. The account was found to be registered in the name of Vipul Kashyap, a resident of Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

On May 4, the Crime Branch apprehended Kashyap. Based on technical surveillance and analysis of digital footprints, the main accused Ayush Sharma (21), also a resident of Greater Noida, was arrested from Noida recently.

“During interrogation, Sharma disclosed that he, along with associates, lured people through Instagram advertisements to rent out their bank accounts and SIM cards on commission. The rented accounts and SIMs were then used to route and withdraw defrauded money,” the officer said.

Another co-accused, Vishal Kumar of Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, who allegedly provided a SIM card to Sharma, was traced, interrogated and bound down in the case. Further investigation is underway to identify other members of the racket.