Patna: The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police, in collaboration with department of telecommunications (Govt of India), has uncovered a major cybercrime syndicate, involved in a nationwide fraud of more than Rs 40 crore, with the arrest of its 21-year-old mastermind, Harshit Kumar, and five others from Gauspur in Supaul district on Sunday, said additional director general (ADG) Nayyar Hasnain Khan on Monday.The syndicate committed frauds using spoofed SIM boxes, brought from China and Vietnam, causing a loss of about Rs 2.5 crore to the telecommunications department just in the last two weeks, he added. The operation, conducted across Supaul, Vaishali and other districts in Bihar, revealed an extensive cyberfraud network with international connections. Police have linked the syndicate’s operations to at least 18 cases reported across West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Delhi, Odisha and Jharkhand. ADG, EOU, Khan said a total of six people, including Common Service Center operator Mohd Sultan and four point of sale (POS) machine operators, were arrested in the matter. “Eight spoofed SIM box devices and hundreds of certified, used and unused SIM cards, along with multiple bank passbooks and other documents were seized. An Investigation revealed that Harshit established connections with individuals from China, Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries through social media platforms,” Khan said.Explaining the modus operandi, he said the syndicate operated a parallel exchange system, converting Voice over Internet Protocol calls into local fraud calls, targeting citizens across the country. The group reportedly made over 10,000 fake calls daily through these spoofed SIM boxes.“The cybercrime syndicate has been operating the network since Jan 2025. It means that the department must have suffered a loss in revenue of about Rs 30 crore in the last seven months,” he said. Khan added mastermind Harshit has a luxurious house in Motihari, East Champaran. “Besides, Rs 3 crore worth transactions were discovered through his bank account. He also holds accounts on two cryptocurrency exchanges, suggesting evidence of significant cryptocurrency transactions,” the ADG said.The investigation also uncovered a sophisticated SIM card supply network. One Sumit Shah from Pakur in neighbouring Jharkhand, supplied approximately 1,000 SIM cards to Harshit since March. Accused Mohd Sultan was involved in collecting biometric data from villagers under the pretence of govt schemes, which was then used to obtain SIM cards illegally.The EOU is currently investigating the financial aspects of the case, including PAN details, bank accounts and Aadhaar information of the accused.
