Lucknow, Apr 14 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has arrested two persons in connection with defrauding senior government officials using the Call Spoofing method -- a technique wherein calls appear to originate from the Closed User group (CUG) numbers of various high-ranking officials through Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) calls, the police said.
One of the arrested persons is a postgraduate in Master of Computer Applications, who was arrested along with his uncle.
These CUG numbers belong to various high officials, including the private secretary to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, the private secretary to the Minister of Public Works, and the private secretary to the Minister of Energy and Additional Energy Sources, among others.
The accused, while impersonating these officials, made recommendations for their associates or financial backers.
The accused, identified as Anvesh Tiwari from Ayodhya, is the mastermind, while Kaptan Tiwari, also from Ayodhya, is his uncle. They were arrested from the Kamta trisection in Lucknow on Saturday.
Additional Superintendent of Police of STF, Vishal Vikram Singh, said that the gang's mastermind, Anvesh Tiwari, revealed that he utilised his expertise gained from a master's degree in computer application from Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University in Ayodhya in 2018.
He disclosed that he began working as a freelance software developer in 2023 and subsequently established his own company.
He further revealed that he had created nearly 3,000 software programmes for schools and financial technology.
In 2022, he learned about an app on the internet through which calls could be made with any number displayed (call spoofing).
He said that he used this app and enlisted the help of his uncle, Kaptan Tiwari, to influence government officials and seek favours.
Anvesh further revealed that his family had a political background. He admitted to using call spoofing to facilitate village-related projects such as drain construction, road laying, and brick laying in various districts, including his native district.
The police said that the accused used this tactic to call a police official and manipulate a case of fraud against him in Bareilly to his advantage.