Telangana state police have arrested a gang of seven people who were involved in the theft and sale from an estimated 160.8 million Indian nationals, police say.
The data was available in over 140 categories — including defense personnel data for over 255,000 people. There was information in categories such as the Energy and Power sector, PAN card data, Government employees, Gas and Petroleum, HNIs (High Net-worth Individuals), demat accounts, student databases, women's databases, data of people who have applied for loans and insurance, as well as credit card and debit card holders (of private banks), WhatsApp users, Facebook* users, IT organization employees, frequent flyers etc.
According to Cyberabad police Commissioner Stephen Ravindra, the gang operated through several companies — Data Mart Infotech, Global Data Arts, Inspire Digital, and MS Digital Grow — and sold data to at least 100 fraudsters.
Police have particularly warned that the data of defence and government officials could be used for impersonation and espionage, among other serious crimes.
“For now, the accused are booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections. We will invoke the Official Secrets Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2008 (UAPA) in the coming days,” the commissioner said.
*Activity of Meta (Facebook and Instagram) is banned in Russia as extremist