Hyderabad Police bust ghost SIM network in massive anti-cybercrime operation

Hyderabad Police arrested 66 suspects and seized hundreds of ghost SIM cards during ‘Operation Octopus 3.0’, a nationwide crackdown on cybercrime networks allegedly involved in sextortion, impersonation, and digital arrest scams linked to fraud worth over Rs 101 crore.

Hyderabad: In a major nationwide operation against cybercrime, Hyderabad Police have busted a large ghost SIM card network that was allegedly aiding cybercriminals across the country.

The special drive, named ‘Operation Octopus 3.0,’ carried out in 13 States led to the arrest of 66 suspects.

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According to police, the crackdown was launched after cybercrime teams traced 1,194 ghost SIM cards being used in various cyber fraud cases. Eighteen special teams carried out week-long raids across multiple states, seizing 544 SIM cards, including 432 sealed and 112 active SIMs.

Among those arrested were 44 users of ghost SIMs, 20 point-of-sale agents and telecom promoters, and two SIM suppliers.

City Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar said the suspects were linked to 76 cybercrime cases registered across India, involving fraud worth more than Rs 101.87 crore. “It was found that some telecom agents were illegally activating extra SIM cards using customers’ biometric details during new SIM purchases or mobile number portability procedures, often without the users’ knowledge,” he said.

Investigations revealed that cyber fraudsters were converting these illegally obtained SIM cards into e-SIMs and transmitting them to operators based abroad. “The numbers were then used to create fake accounts on messaging platforms, matrimonial websites, and dating apps to carry out scams, including sextortion, digital arrest fraud, and impersonation scams,” the commissioner explained.

The operation covered Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and several other States.

Officials said meetings will soon be held with telecom providers and central agencies to tighten KYC norms and prevent further misuse of SIM cards.

Police advised citizens to regularly verify how many mobile connections are active in their name through the official tafcop.sancharsaathi.gov.in and to immediately report cyber fraud by calling the national helpline 1930 or visiting cybercrime.gov.in.