New Delhi: Security agencies across Europe dismantled a massive cybercrime network operating from Latvia, seizing over 40,000 SIM cards and arresting five suspects.
The operation, named SIMCARTEL, uncovered luxury cars, servers, hundreds of thousands of euros in bank funds and cryptocurrency assets tied to the criminals.
Investigators revealed that the network rented phone numbers in more than 80 countries, enabling fraudsters to create fake accounts on social media, banking platforms and e-commerce sites.
Joint efforts by Latvian police and European agencies revealed the existence of nearly 5 crore fake online accounts used to conduct widespread cyber fraud.
Authorities also froze five servers, four luxury cars, approximately €430,000 in bank assets and $330,000 worth of cryptocurrency. Investigations are ongoing to trace links to India.
European investigators from Austria, Estonia and Latvia uncovered that the network had targeted thousands of victims across the continent. In Austria alone, the fraud amounted to nearly €4.5 million (around Rs 40 crore), while losses in Latvia reached €420,000 (approximately Rs 3.7 crore).
So far, 1,700 cases of cyber fraud in Austria and 1,500 in Latvia have been connected to this gang.
The cybercriminals operated a sophisticated online service that rented phone numbers registered in over 80 countries. These numbers enabled criminals to create fake accounts on social media platforms, banking services and websites, hiding their real identities and locations while carrying out theft, hacking and other crimes.
The network facilitated multiple types of fraud. In online second-hand marketplaces, fake accounts were used to extort money from unsuspecting users.
Crimes ranged from online marketplace scams to impersonating children over WhatsApp, investment fraud, fake shopping portals and even posing as police officers to extort money. One key member of the network was already under investigation in Estonia for arson and extortion.
Fake shopping sites and banking portals were also used, with rented numbers providing false customer service contacts or legal addresses to trick victims. Some criminals posed as police officers, especially targeting Russian-speaking victims, and even personally collected payments.
The gang presented itself as a legitimate service provider, operating professionally designed websites and buying thousands of SIM cards from different countries to rent them for creating fake accounts. One key member of the network was already under investigation in Estonia for arson and extortion cases.
The crackdown involved coordinated raids at 26 locations by agencies from Austria, Estonia, Latvia and Finland, with Europol and Eurojust providing crucial support. Forensic and technical teams from Europol were stationed in Riga during the operation.
During the raids, the criminals’ websites, gogetsms.com and apisim.com, were shut down and replaced with police notifications. Investigations revealed that around 4.9 crore fake accounts had been created through this network, with estimated fraud losses running into millions of euros.
The operation was carried out under EMPACT (European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats), a platform that facilitates cooperation between European agencies to tackle organised crime and international cyber fraud. SIMCARTEL is being regarded as one of Europe’s largest cybercrime investigations.
Authorities are now tracing the network’s clients and examining whether its services were used for cybercrime in India and other countries.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: ZEE News
