The Ahmedabad City Cyber Crime Branch has busted an international cybercrime network involved in the ‘BOSS Scam’. Two key operatives from West Bengal were arrested during the operation.
Police said the investigation, conducted with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, uncovered links to cyber infrastructure across China, Pakistan, Hong Kong and India. More than 10,000 compromised devices were secured, potentially preventing financial losses worth crores of rupees.
The fraudsters allegedly posed as company executives or Reserve Bank of India officials. They sent employees malicious ZIP files through WhatsApp or email. Once opened, the malware helped criminals take control of WhatsApp Web sessions and change contact details. Finance teams were then allegedly instructed to make urgent bank transfers.
Police recovered nearly 4,500 SIM cards during the investigation. These were linked to 251 complaints from 26 states involving financial fraud, social media crimes and hacking.
The arrested accused were identified as Imran Ali Piyada and Injamul. Police said Imran misused customer biometric details to activate fake SIM cards and generated thousands of OTPs for online services.
Investigators also found that the malware was linked to Chinese cybercriminals, while call centres in Islamabad allegedly helped operate the fraud.