Ahmedabad: Man held for selling data of foreign citizens to call centres

AHMEDABAD: Cybercrime police of the city on Saturday caught a 26-year-old man for allegedly selling contact details of foreign nationals of US, UK and other countries to call centre operators.
According to an FIR filed with the cybercrime police, cops got an input about a man named Manan Jani from Umapark Society in Vastral, who has obtained data of various foreign nationals and is selling it to different call centre operators.
Acting on the input, a team of cybercrime police went to Umapark Society and barged into Jani's house, where he was found working a laptop and three cellphones.
Cops checked his devices and found various files comprising names, contact numbers and addresses of various foreign nationals from US, UK and other countries, mentioned the FIR.
The FIR stated that Jani was was mining data of various foreign nationals from a website .
When cops questioned him on why he was obtaining data of foreign nationals, he could not give a satisfactory answer. Preliminary investigation revealed that he sold the data to others and got money through various means including cryptocurrency.
Police are now probing the people who bought the data from Jani. Cops have seized a laptop, five cellphones, pen-drive, hard disk and router from Jani's house.
Cybercrime police have booked Jani for breach of trust, cheating and abetment under sections of the IPC and under the Information Technology Act. They are further investigating the case.