Kerala: Cyber fraudster held for extorting over Rs 1 cr, 40,000 SIM cards seized

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The Cyber Crime unit of Malappuram police in Kerala have apprehended a Karnataka native allegedly involved in online trading and seized over 40,000 SIM cards and 180 mobile phones from his possession, police said on Saturday.

According to the police, the accused identified as Abdul Roshan (46), hailing from Karnataka's Koppa, allegedly extorted Rs 1.08 crore from a native of Malappuram's Vengara through online trading scam.

A case has been registered at Vengara Police Station under sections 420 IPC and 66 (D) of the IT Act for cheating and extorting money without paying dividends.

The police said that Abdul Roshan was staying in a rented house in Madikeri, Kotak district and distributed SIM cards to fraud gangs. According to the police, a young man from Vengara suffered financial loss after the link of a sharemarket site on Facebook. He was subsequently lured into making deposits into various accounts.

He was arrested by the Special Cyber Crime Squad headed by Cyber Inspector IC Chitharanjan and Malappuram Police Chief S Sasidharan with the help of Karnataka police. During the operation, around 40,000 SIM cards from various mobile companies and more than 180 mobile phones were recovered from Roshan's possession, the officials said.

The accused was produced in the Malappuram court and remanded into police custody, they added.

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