Criminals use apps, not SIMs, to make calls

HYDERABAD: The police have for long relied on mobile tower locations, call data records etc to track down criminals. However, criminals appear to have gone a step ahead of the cops. Of late, they are using mobile phones without SIM cards in them, and instead, are using apps for communication. This was found in recent cases, including the heist at Muthoot Finance in Tamil Nadu. 

When the eight-member gang involved in the Muthoot heist was nabbed, all of them had mobile phones and in working condition, but none of them had network connection. It was found during questioning that all of them had activated their SIM cards, installed apps for making calls, and then removed the SIM cards. They also had a Wi-Fi dongle for Internet. 

When this is the modus operandi, the police cannot track the suspects through mobile tower locations. However, one of the gang members, by mistake, had used a mobile number, which enabled the police to tail the gang for around 700 km, all the way from Krishnagiri to Hyderabad.

In another case which Cyberabad police detected recently, a property offender was found using WhatsApp for communication. After activating WhatsApp with a sim, he would damage the sim and continue using WhatsApp.