Patna: The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police has uncovered an international cyber fraud operation being run from Cambodia and Thailand, with its Indian base in Bhojpur district. In a major breakthrough, EOU officials arrested a man named Mukesh Kumar from Narayanpur village and seized four SIM boxes used to convert VoIP calls into local GSM calls, facilitating large-scale fraud.
The raid was part of a wider investigation following a similar bust in Supaul earlier this month, where an international cyber syndicate was found operating. Acting on intelligence gathered by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), the EOU discovered that a parallel illegal telecom exchange had been set up in Bhojpur, linked to cyber criminals abroad.
The modus operandi involved converting internet-based calls—originating from Cambodia, Thailand, and other countries—into regular mobile calls in India through the use of SIM boxes. This allowed fraudsters to target Indian citizens under the guise of local numbers, making it difficult to detect the foreign origin of the scams.
Preliminary investigations suggest that thousands of such fraudulent calls were being made daily, leading to substantial financial losses for both victims and the Department of Telecommunications. Officials are currently assessing the scale of revenue loss.
Further raids are underway at the premises of SIM distributors and operators of Common Service Centres (CSCs). According to the EOU, CSC operators set up fake camps in rural areas, collecting biometric data from villagers under the pretext of enrolling them in government schemes. This data was then used to procure SIM cards in bulk, allegedly in connivance with authorised telecom distributors.
These SIM cards were later inserted into SIM boxes to facilitate cyber crimes. Authorities say they have identified several CSC operators and telecom distributors involved, and further arrests are expected.
This incident follows a similar operation on July 20 in Supaul, where three individuals, including a man named Harshit, were arrested for operating a comparable fraudulent network.
