Chennai police bust international network involved in online financial scams

Chennai police bust gang procuring SIM cards for cyber fraud targeting Tamil-speaking people, arresting Malaysian and Indian nationals.

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Greater Chennai City Police has busted a gang that procured SIM cards illegally and operated current accounts from India that were being used by cyber fraudsters operating out of Malaysia and Cambodia, targeting Tamil-speaking people. 

The city police unearthed the network following the detention of a Malaysian-Chinese passenger at the Chennai airport a few ago. The passenger was in possession of Indian SIM cards. Police said Anil Kumar, Assistant Foreign Regional Registration Officer, Bureau of Immigration, Chennai International Airport, reported on Sunday (June 16, 2024) that Malaysian national Lee Tiek Yein, aged 32, was caught while he was boarding a flight bound for Malaysia with 22 SIM cards that had been fraudulently obtained.

After an enquiry, the immigration officers found that these cards were to be used for cyber/bank frauds. Based on this report, a  case was registered at Forgery Investigation Wing (FIW) of the CCB, Chennai and the accused person, LeeTiek Yein was arrested and remanded judicial custody on Monday, June 17, as per a court order. 

Based on information given by Yein, a special police team conducted further investigations and arrested seven others including three Malaysian nationals: Ganesan, Tang Ching Kun, Mahendran  and four Indian nationals: Mohammed Manazir of Coonoor, Ramjai of Salem, Rajwinder Singh of Punjab and Surya Prakash of Madurai, and sent them all to judicial custody. 

A total of of 550 SIM cards, two laptops, 33 bank account passbook/cheque book, 20 ATM cards, 23 mobile phones, one BMW Car, Malaysian currency amounting to 5485 Ringgits, and Singapore currency were seized from the accused persons.

A senior police officer said the investigation revealed that the gang consisting of Indians and Malaysian nationals procured SIM cards using the credentials of Indian nationals from here, and set up current accounts at banks here. They then sent all the SIM cards and bank details to foreign countries such as Malaysia and Cambodia for use in cyber financial frauds such as the Fedex scam, trading scams, loan app scams etc.