The Delhi Police’s Special Cell sleuths on Monday dismantled a cyber-enabled document fraud racket, arresting two persons on charges of allegedly selling forged and counterfeit government identity documents by means of the website, bkprint.in. The arrested accused, according to police, have been identified as Bideshi Saw and Santosh Kumar, who were held from Daman & Diu and Patna respectively, in connection with the case. 

Police said the accused allegedly created and sold forged government documents, including Aadhar cards, PAN-related documents, voter IDs, residence certificates, caste certificates, death and birth certificates and several other official-looking records in lieu of money. Cops claimed that the counterfeit documents closely resembled the genuine ones, and could potentially be misused for identity theft, impersonation, financial fraud, cheating and even to fraudulently obtain authentic government documents. 

Cyber patrolling leads sleuths to breakthrough

Notably, the probe was initiated by the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (FSO) unit of the Delhi Police during routine cyber patrolling and social media surveillance. The Special Cell sleuths reportedly came across information suggesting that forged government IDs were being marketed through the website. 

To verify the inputs, cops created a dummy user account and recharged the website’s digital wallet with Rs 100 by means of the UPI ID displayed on the platform. 

After completing the payment, police said they were able to generate fake Aadhar cards and voter IDs by entering fictitious personal details and uploading a photograph. When they conducted a technical examination, they learnt that the QR code printed on the Aadhar card merely stored the information entered by the user and had no connection with the official Aadhar database, confirming that the document was a counterfeit one. 

Digital trail leads cops to the accused

According to special cell sleuths, the payment trail led them to Bideshi Saw, whose cell phone number and UPI account were linked to the website. He was arrested from Daman & Diu. 

During interrogation, he revealed that while he handled the website’s operations and online payments, the platform’s back-end infrastructure had been developed and maintained by his aide, Santosh Kumar, a native of Bihar’s Patna. 

On the basis of technical evidence, the cops swooped down on Kumar in Patna. When they subjected his electronic devices to a forensic examination, they came across the website’s source code, hosting details, customer database, payment records and chats exchanged with the co-accused, indicating his role in designing and maintaining the platform. 

Probe still on

Police said the website required users to first recharge a digital wallet before placing orders. Customers could then enter their personal details and upload pictures to generate forged government IDs. The platform also generated QR codes which appeared genuine but merely stored the information entered by users, imparting an authentic look to the counterfeit documents. 

During the operation, the Special Cell sleuths seized laptops, cell phones, digital payment records, website source code, customer databases, hosting details and documents linked to bkprint.in, as well as bkprint.xyz. The police’s probe is underway to identify other potential members of the network, trace the financial proceeds of the crime, examine the entire customer database and determine whether any forged documents were used for criminal or fraudulent activities.