By Biswanath Dash
BHUBANESWAR: STF PS Case No-10/2023), another accused arrested in the above mentioned case. Earlier four accused were arrested in this case. Pritam Kar (31 years) of V Bhurunga under Bari Ramchandrapur in Jajpur was arrested by STF.
He will be produced before Bhubaneswar court today. He and his associates are doing this illegal business (OTP sharing, Mule accounts/pre-activated digital wallets selling to cyber criminals including PIO/ISI agents)since 2017.He was in direct touch with at least two PIO/ISI agents and had physically met them multiple times in other states and had recently received Rs 1.5 lakh for selling OTP/ Mule accounts/ digital wallets. It is also learnt that the SIM and Debit card used by the accused in last year’s Mangalore Auto blast (terror act) was provided by Pritam Kar.
He has sold thousands of pre—activated SIM cards, OTPs and Mule accounts/digital wallets till date. He used to charge up to Rs.1000 per SIM and up to Rs30,000 per accounts for mule accounts/ digital wallets. He used to sell mule accounts/ digital wallets of India Post Payment Bank (IPPB),FiNO care, HDFC, Axis, Yes Bank, ICICI, Airtel Payment Bank, Paytm Bank etc.He and his associate used to contact the customers through various WhatsApp group, Facebook messenger groups and Telegram groups. He used to make WhatsApp voice call/chat to many foreign numbers too.He was the admin of the Whatsapp group named “All saving AC available” having113 members. He is also member of numerous such groups like-Online-Offline Seller
OTP shop-6All OTP available OTP Sell/ Buy AddaOTC KYC deals Online Project dailyI ndian top OTP group KYC Compliance Best OTP group KYC Zone Etc.Further investigation of this case is on.Previous PRESS NOTE dated 08.06.2023One more accused arrested in OTP Sharing Scam (to Pakistani Intelligence Operatives, STF P.S Case No.10/2023).STF arrested one more accused in the above mentioned case. Earlier three accused were arrested in this case .Pradyumna Kumar Sahoo (32 years) of Vill: Mahitama PS: Nuagaon Nayagarh wasarrested by STF on 07.06.2023. He is a graduate and had earlier worked asterritory sales executive in Idea and as Jio Point manager. Now he is working atBlack buck, Fastag Company. He had supplied/ sold more than 500 pre-activatedSIMs and 150+ pre-activated PayTM Wallets to Pathani Samanta Lenka who wasarrested earlier in this case. These SIMs and Wallets were sold to various cybercriminals and PIO (Pakistani Intelligence Operatives).
Some of the SIMs and wallets were used by PIOs/ ISI agents including somebased/located inside Pakistan mainly from Karachi and Baluchistan. Furtherinvestigation in this regard is on.It was found that accused used to generate multiple SIMs on the same identity byfooling/tricking the unsuspecting customers/ SIM buyers on the pretext of sometechnical issues/glitches.It was learnt that for activation of different wallets i.e. PhonePe, Google Pay andothers, the Registered Mobile Phone Numbers (which is linked with the BankAccount) are mandatory but in case of Paytm wallet account, the customer onceactivated the same (T) OTP verification can also share the USER ID & Password toothers (having different mobile number) for operating the said account.STF will study/analyze this and if needed, will write to Paytm to change thesettings.
Basing on the intelligence input about OTP sharing to some criminals and anti-national elements, STF conducted raids and three accused persons wereapprehended namely Pathanisamant Lenka, 35 Years S/o. Late Purna ChandraLenka of Badapandusar PS. Itamati Dist. Nayagarh, Saroj Kumar Nayak @ Amit, 26Years S/o. Suresh Nayak of Sakeni PO: Poibadi PS. Dasapalla Dist. Nayagarh atpresent staying C/o.Jyostna Sahoo, near ITI College, Achyutnagar Lane-2, NayagarhDist. Nayagarh and Soumya Pattanayak, 19 Years S/o. Binay Kumar Pattanaik ofUdayapur , Sujanpur Dist. Jajpur.
During raid various incriminating materials suchas mobile phones, pre-activated SIM Cards, Laptop etc. were seized from theirpossession. The accused persons could not give any satisfactory answer regardingsharing of OTPs and other information’s to foreign nationals. For which they have been arrested and forwarded to the court of SDJM, Bhubaneswar on 13.05.2023.In this connection STF PS Case No. 10/2023, Dt 12.05.2023, U/s419/420/465/467/468/471/120(B)/34 IPC r/w. 66 C & 66 D IT Act, 2000.Investigation is on.
The seized materials included-19 costly mobile phones (Including Apple mobile)47 SIM Cards61 ATM cards23 SIM coversThey were fraudulently procuring huge numbers of SIMs in other’s name andselling the OTPs (linked/generated using the SIMs) to various clients includingsome Pakistani Intelligence Operatives (PIO)/ ISI agents in Pakistan as well as inIndia. In return they would be paid by some Pakistani agents based in India. Theywere also in the touch with a female PIO agent who was arrested last year in anOfficial secrets Act/ Honey-Trap case in Rajsthan. These OTPs were than used to create various accounts/ Channels on social media like Whatsapp, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram etc. and also on online shoppingsite like Amazon, Flipkart etc. These are also used in opening email accounts. People will think that these accounts are owned by an Indian but actually operated from Pakistan.
These social media platform than will be used in various kinds of Anti-India activities like Spying, communication with terrorists, radicalization, running anti-India propaganda, fuelling anti-India/ divisive sentiments on social media, sextortion, Honey-trapping etc. As these accounts are registered/linked on an Indian mobile numbers people find it trustworthy. The accounts opened on online shopping platforms are also used to supply items to terrorists, anti-India elements etc.Apart from these they were also in business of creating and selling mule accounts through social media groups which are again used in various kinds of crimes.
