66 held, 544 SIM cards seized as Hyderabad Police crack down on ghost SIM gangs

The PoS agents were attached to three networks – 10 from Vodafone Idea, seven from Airtel and three from Jio.

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Police on Wednesday, May 20, said they arrested 66 people, including 20 telecom point-of-sale agents, across 13 states in a sweeping crackdown on a “ghost SIM” network that was allegedly the communications backbone for cyber frauds totalling Rs 101.87 crore.

Dubbed Operation Octopus 3.0, the drive saw 18 specially constituted teams operate continuously over seven days, seizing 544 SIM cards linked to 76 documented cybercrime cases nationwide. Of the SIMs seized, 432 had not yet been deployed and were recovered sealed, awaiting despatch to fraud networks, the police said.

Of the 66 arrested, 44 were ghost SIM holders, 20 were point of sale (PoS) agents or telecom promoters and two were ghost SIM suppliers. The PoS agents were attached to three networks – 10 from Vodafone Idea, seven from Airtel and three from Jio.

The Cyber Crime Police Station had previously identified 1,194 ghost SIMs linked to cases registered with it, forming the investigative foundation for the operation, which covered Telangana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Punjab.

5 methods to harvest SIM cards

Police documented five distinct methods used by agents to harvest SIM cards fraudulently. In one, agents activated additional SIM cards in genuine customers’ names during mobile number portability eKYC verification, without their knowledge, before converting them to e-SIMs for transfer abroad. 

In another, agents offered free activation to less digitally literate individuals and diverted the SIM cards to distributors on commission. Customers were also monetarily induced to surrender SIM cards, while others were tricked into sharing OTPs that enabled the creation of fake profiles on WhatsApp, dating and matrimonial platforms. Police also found evidence of bulk SIM camps run in villages under the guise of free distribution, targeting illiterate residents to exploit their Aadhaar identities.

Once activated, these SIM cards, routed to cyber criminal networks operating from abroad, were used to run sextortion rackets and so-called “digital arrest” scams using Indian mobile numbers.

Operation Octopus 3.0 is the third phase of a sustained campaign. The first targeted mule account holders, while the second went after bank officials who abetted cyber fraud. 

Hyderabad City Police said it would convene structured meetings with the senior leadership of Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea. The agenda will include mandatory real-time verification during new SIM activations and number portability, faster deactivation of SIMs flagged in crime cases, blacklisting of errant agents across all networks and technology-driven detection of bulk SIM issuance anomalies.