The Special Task Force (STF) of the Odisha Crime Branch has arrested one more person from Assam in connection with the one-time password (OTP) sharing scam with Pakistani intelligence operatives (PIOs).
The accused, identified as Mohammad Ekbal Hussain, was arrested from Gandhua Pathar under Nagaon district in Assam. He was brought to Odisha on transit remand and produced before a court in Bhubaneswar on Friday.
Earlier, six accused were arrested in the case.
Hussain was in touch with another accused Abhijit Desmukh, who has been arrested earlier. He was also in touch with Khurram Abdul Hamid (Pakistan Intelligence Officer). He has allegedly sold many WhatsApp Account OTP, Telegram Account OTP and mule or ghost accounts directly to Hamid.
After the arrest of the principal accused Pathani Samanta Lenka and his associates, Hussain switched off his phone and went underground. It was found that he has used at least 37 IMEI Nos (handset) and more than 500 SIMs.
He confessed his crime and stated that he had been selling OTPs of WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, fake-activated SIM, and Mule/Ghost Account for two years and earned Rs 50, 000 to Rs 60, 000 per month.
He further revealed that in his village Gandhua Pathar in Assam, almost all adult male persons are involved in this type of cybercrime. He and other cybercriminals in his village generally use SIM nos/mobile handsets for around a month and then destroy them by throwing them into the river.
