Telephone operator employee is arrested in Rio suspected of passing on customer data to scammers

An employee of a cell phone operator was arrested this Wednesday (4), in Rio de Janeiro. He is suspected of passing on customer data to a gang of scammers.

The arrest took place during Operation Chave Mestra, of the Civil Police of Rio Grande do Sul. In total, 5 people were arrested.

The person being investigated would be responsible for carrying out the so-called SIM swap. The procedure transfers a phone number to another chip and compromised 120 lines.

The investigation began in December after a hack into a corporate bank account. With control of the numbers, scammers could reset passwords and access accounts.

The employee's sister was also arrested in Rio de Janeiro. Both must face charges of hacking a computer device, criminal organization and money laundering.

A TIM employee was arrested this Wednesday (4), in Jacarepaguá, in the West Zone of Rio, suspected of using access to the operator's systems to knock down customer telephone lines and pass on information to a gang of scammers in Rio Grande do Sul.

The criminals were targets of Operation Chave Mestra, conducted by the Civil Police of Rio Grande do Sul. In total, five people had been arrested until the publication of this report. The operation also takes place in Goiás, Paraná and the Federal District.

According to the Civil Police, Wilian Aliano would be responsible for the so-called SIM swap, a procedure that transfers a telephone number to another chip.

The investigations began in December last year, when police discovered an invasion of the corporate account of an employee of a public development bank in Rio Grande do Sul:

"From there, he managed to reset his functional email password. The second authentication factor was his cell phone. He accessed the bank, managed to break into more privileged access and attempted to withdraw funds, but were prevented", explained delegate Isadora Galian, responsible for the investigation.

The investigation shows that around 120 lines were compromised by William, and that the information was passed on to criminals in other states.

With control of the number, scammers could receive authentication codes sent via SMS, access accounts linked to the cell phone and reset passwords.

Wilian's sister, Yasmin Aliano, was also arrested in Rio. The two were taken to the Civil Police headquarters, in the Center.

Warrant handling

The police are also investigating the suspicion that the gang offered a clandestine service to make it difficult to locate arrest warrants in the National Arrest Warrant Bank.

According to investigators, the warrants were not erased. Criminals would change search criteria, such as the name of the person being sought, to prevent the record from appearing in searches. A new investigation was opened to find out how the scheme worked.

Wilian and Yasmin must respond, according to the police, for hacking a computer device, criminal organization and money laundering. Combined, the sentences can exceed 20 years in prison.

TIM, in a statement, stated that it repudiates any illicit practice and reinforced that it adopts rigorous standards of ethics, integrity and security in operations. The company also said that it is available to the authorities to collaborate with the investigations.