Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh CID police busted an international cybercrime network operating from Southeast Asia and arrested a key accused during a joint operation with central agencies on Tuesday.
Investigators arrested the prime accused, Haden, a Vietnamese national, in West Bengal after tracing his role in supplying Indian SIM cards to cyber fraud gangs. These gangs ran scam centres from Cambodia. During the arrest, police seized 1,400 SIM cards and several hard disks, which the accused allegedly used to facilitate large-scale online fraud.
Meanwhile, the CID conducted the operation with technical support from officials of the Directorate of Telecommunications. The officials helped trace illegal SIM usage and routing patterns linked to overseas scam centres. Investigators revealed that the accused actively handled the activation and movement of SIM cards later used for digital arrest scams and investment frauds targeting Indian victims.
International cybercrime links traced to Southeast Asia
Police further said the cybercrime network had operational links across Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam. In these countries, organised scam centres have expanded rapidly in recent years. Notably, these centres relied on Indian SIM cards to gain victims’ trust and bypass security checks on digital platforms.
Additionally, officials described the case as part of a wider nationwide crackdown, as cyber fraud complaints continue to rise across India. Several state police forces have already exposed SIM card smuggling rackets supplying telecom connections to overseas cybercriminals. The Andhra Pradesh CID confirmed that more arrests are likely as investigators analyse the seized digital evidence and track financial trails linked to the network.
