2 Airtel employees held in Gurugram for issuing 530 virtual numbers to Indonesian, Chinese cyber fraudsters: Report
Airtel officials confirmed that the two employees were suspended. The investigation began last week after a woman claimed she lost ₹10,000 to fraudsters.
Two Airtel managers, Neeraj Walia and Hemant Sharma, were arrested in Gurugram for allegedly providing virtual phone numbers to Indonesian and Chinese cyber fraudsters. The arrests came after a complaint from a victim of cyber fraud.
Airtel officials confirmed that the two employees were suspended. The investigation began last week after a woman claimed she lost ₹10,000 to fraudsters offering a work-from-home job. The number used to contact her had a Gurugram on STD code, Times of India reported.
“The victim was initially paid ₹200 for posting hotel reviews on a webpage. Later, she was added to a Telegram group and instructed to transfer money to various bank accounts. This was a prepaid task, for which she was promised high returns,” the report quoted cyber inspector (east) Amit as saying.
The victim's virtual account reflected increasing funds after each transfer, but the fraudsters allegedly restricted access to all transactions when she tried to withdraw the money.
The investigation uncovered that the virtual phone number used to contact the victim was traced to a fraudulent company, Ekamdarsh Services Pvt Ltd, with documents pointing to an address in Dundahera. However, upon visiting the location, no such company was found.
A joint team of city police and personnel from the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) discovered that the virtual number had been issued by Neeraj and Hemant.
“Neeraj handled site verification, required for issuing phone numbers at Airtel, while Hemant was his team leader. They issued a DID (Direct Inward Dialling) virtual landline number to the fake company, violating TRAI regulations, ” said ACP Priyanshu Diwan, who led the investigation.
Virtual numbers issues to Indonesian company
The police later found that the duo had issued approximately 530 virtual numbers to an Indonesian company, with several of these numbers also being provided to Chinese fraudsters. Telecom providers issue virtual phone numbers to companies and call centres that need to make numerous calls to customers daily.
For example, the number that appears on your phone screen when receiving a call from services like Uber or Zomato is a virtual number. However, these numbers are only meant to be issued to agencies operating within the country.
The police later found that the duo had issued around 530 virtual numbers to an Indonesian company, with several of these numbers also provided to Chinese fraudsters.
Virtual phone numbers are issued by telecom providers to companies and call centres that need to make numerous calls to customers in a day. For example, the number that appears on your phone screen when you receive a call from services like Uber or Zomato is a virtual number.
However, these numbers are only meant to be issued to agencies operating within the country.
“We came across evidence in a WhatsApp group, which showed that the accused issued virtual phone numbers to several other companies without proper verification. We are currently investigating the legitimacy of these companies and how these numbers were used,” the ACP added.
For now, the police have seized two mobile phones from the Airtel managers and registered a case under BNS sections 318 (4) (cheating), 319 (cheating by impersonation), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy).
“We have suspended the two employees and a show cause notice has been issued to them based on our preliminary investigation. For us, compliance to the code of conduct is a prerequisite to all we do,” the report quoted Airtel spokesperson as saying.
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