Kestopur homemaker, 24, is state’s largest seller of phone SIMs used in cybercrimes
Times of India | 5 March 2025
12 Kolkata: A 24-year-old homemaker living in a Kestopur bylane has emerged as the state's largest — and one of India's highest — seller of SIMs generated through fraudulent means. A search by a Kolkata Police detective department team at the rented accommodation of Deblina Chakraborty last week yielded 237 pre-activated SIM cards of various telecom firms, five biometric machines and eight mobile phones.
While Chakraborty, husband Anirban Saha (28) and close friend Ripan Saha (22) were placed under arrest, leads obtained from them led cops to nine other gang members across the city and the recovery of about 2,200 SIM cards, 15 biometric machines and 18 mobile phones.
Police said the SIM cards Chakraborty sold had recently been used to carry out at least 211 cybercrimes ranging from digital arrest, loan fraud and hacking, some from countries like Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.
In Kestopur, Chakraborty's neighbours said she would often travel to the interiors of Mahisbathan, Baligari or Madhyamgram to sell SIM cards. "She left in the morning and returned late at night," said Usha Ghosh, owner of the house where she lived a year ago. Chakraborty would also frequently shift from one rented accommodation in the area to another. "Last Wednesday, we saw cops enter the locality around 6am to arrest them," Ghosh said.
Kolkata Police sources said Chakraborty was tracked by multiple agencies, with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) detailing the crimes she was involved in.
Deblina Chakraborty's modus operandi was simple. She used to set up point of sale (POS) counters of major telecom providers near slums where sourcing KYC documents is relatively easy. She would collect thumb impressions from customers under the pretence of failed verification attempts, while actually processing successful verifications at the service provider's end and then acquiring multiple pre-activated SIM cards. She also created Telegram groups to facilitate OTP trading as well as the purchase and sale of SIM cards. She also rented SIM cards to cyber gangs operating from Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
"The items seized from Chakraborty's house include biometric authentication devices used to fraudulently obtain fingerprint-based KYC data of unsuspecting individuals," said joint CP (crime & traffic) Rupesh Kumar.
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