Selling Old Phones To Cyber Fraudsters; Telangana Police Bust Bihar Gang (Image: AI-Generated)

The Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) arrested a gang that was collecting and then supplying old mobile phones to fraudsters. The Telangana police found that the cyber fraudsters used these old phones for conning citizens across the country. The government has issued an advisory warning to the common people to be aware of selling unused or old phones to unknown individuals or any unscrupulous sellers. The authorities stated that it’s crucial to exercise caution and thoroughly research the seller’s reputation before selling/giving the old phones.

This gang has been on police surveillance for several days as they collected old phones from compatriots and then supplied these mobile phones to the hoax team which is used to con citizens from various call centres in Jharkhand. Later, three men were arrested while purchasing old phones at low prices near the Power House Colony of Godavarikhani, Telangana. They have been collecting plastic items from the residents in Ramgundam and nearby districts for several months and even bought old phones in exchange for the plastic items.

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Telangana Police arrested three men Mohammed Shamim (30), Abdul Salam (28), and Mohammed Iftikhar (32) hailing from Hathiya Diyara in Bihar. The Police found 3 gunnysacks containing at least 4,000 old phones. Police further seized the bags and detained them at the police station. The accused men collected the phones to supply them to close associates in Bihar, These associates are involved in changing software and other components of the old phones and later the phones will be carried to the cyber fraudsters who are secretly operating at Deoghar, Jamtara and other counties of Jharkhand, which are further used to scam, deceive and spam people across India, as per TGCSB officials.

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(with inputs from The Hindu)