Ahmedabad: The Cyber Crime Branch of the city police on Thursday cracked a major cross-border scam, arresting two men accused of supplying thousands of SIM cards to a Chinese cyber gang allegedly responsible for multiple “digital arrest” frauds.

The accused, already jailed in Madhya Pradesh, allegedly used fake companies to procure SIM cards, which were exploited in scams. In one case, an Ahmedabad resident lost ₹86.22 lakh after fraudsters impersonated police officers, sent fake Supreme Court summons, and continuously threatened him via video calls.

Using technical analysis and human intelligence, cybercrime investigators traced the SIM card racket supporting the cross-border operation. The masterminds were identified as Rishabh Bhalchand Hasurkar, a robotics engineering graduate, and Suresh Rajubhai Gudimini. Both were taken into custody from Panna District Jail in Madhya Pradesh, where they were serving sentences for other cyber frauds.

According to a cybercrime press release, the gang’s modus operandi involved contacting victims from untraceable numbers, posing as law enforcement, and claiming their bank accounts were linked to money laundering. Victims were coerced under threat, forced to transfer money, and sent fake Supreme Court warrants via WhatsApp, all while being monitored through continuous video calls.

The probe revealed that the accused floated three shell companies — Star Multi Solution, Hasurkar Ventures Pvt Ltd, and Heiqian Multi Management Pvt Ltd — through which they procured around 550 SIM cards, reactivated blacklisted numbers, and ultimately supplied 2,500 SIMs to an agent, H.R. Danny, at Mumbai International Airport. These SIMs were then passed on to Chinese cyber gangs for executing “digital arrest” scams, terrorizing victims into draining their bank accounts.

The racket’s reach extended beyond Gujarat, with cases filed against the duo in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra under the IT Act and IPC provisions for cheating and forgery. Authorities suspect the accused and their associates could be linked to more than 5,000 fraud cases nationwide.

With these arrests, the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch has disrupted a multi-crore cyber fraud network. However, investigators caution that many operatives, including the Chinese handlers and local agents, remain at large. DeshGujarat