Patna, Jul 21 (PTI) The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) has arrested six persons from Bihar’s Supaul and Vaishali districts for their alleged involvement in an international cyber crime syndicate, police said in a statement on Monday.

Those arrested include Harshit Kumar, the mastermind of India operations, Mohammad Sultan, and four others.

The group was allegedly operating through a network of associates in various states, including West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Delhi, Odisha, and Jharkhand.

During the raid, police recovered eight SIM box devices used to send bulk fraudulent SMS and route international VoIP calls as local calls, numerous SIM cards, bank passbooks, and credit cards.

A statement by the EOU said, "Acting on a specific information, the cyber wing of the EOU and the department of telecommunications jointly conducted searches and arrested Harshit Kumar, mastermind of the syndicate in India, Mohammad Sultan and four others for their involvement in an international cyber crime syndicate from Supaul and Vaishali. They duped people through their operatives in different cities in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Delhi, Odisha, Jharkahnd".

They remained in constant touch with their operatives based in the UAE, Cambodia, Thailand, Hongkong, China, Vietnam, the UK and Germany, it said.

"Harshit had arranged eight SIM Box devices, from China and Vietnam. He had crypto accounts also, which is being further examined," it added.

SIM box devices were used to route international VoIP calls as local calls to commit cyber fraud, the EOU said.

An investigation is ongoing to determine the scale of financial fraud, the number of victims, and the nature of crimes committed both within and outside India, it added. PTI PKD MNB

Cyber fraud: arrests follow discovery of SIM box operation routing international VoIP as local calls enabling cross-border scams. Six individuals were arrested for alleged involvement in an international cyber crime syndicate that deployed eight SIM box devices to route international VoIP calls as local calls, used bulk fraudulent SMS, and maintained cryptocurrency accounts; law enforcement recovered SIM boxes, SIM cards, bank passbooks, and credit cards, and a joint investigation by the Economic Offences Unit and telecom authorities is ongoing to assess the scale of fraud, victim count, technical methods, and cross-border links.