Bhopal News: Cyber Cell Busts Fake Sim Racket, 2 PoS Agents Arrested; 246 Sim Cards Issued Using The Same Facial Image

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): In a major breakthrough, the cyber crime branch police on Tuesday busted a fake SIM card racket and arrested two PoS (point of sale) agents involved in issuing hundreds of fraudulent connections.

Police officials said the accused used a single individual’s photograph to activate nearly 246 SIM cards, which were registered under different names and addresses. Officials suspect these SIM cards may have been used in cyber crimes.

Additional DCP (crime) Shailendra Singh Chauhan said the police took action under Operation Face launched to dismantle fake SIM card rackets.

The accused have been identified as Jahangirabad resident Devendra Yadav and Itwara resident Saif Qureshi who were PoS agents. Police recovered two mobile phones and two SIM cards from their possession. The duo confessed to operating the racket with the help of another associate.

During the investigation, it was revealed that the suspects kept photocopies of customers’ identity documents and reused them to issue multiple SIM cards under fake identities. About 246 SIM cards were issued using the same facial image. The suspects allegedly carried out the fraud to earn commissions and incentives linked to SIM activations.

Over 50 SIM cards were linked to a single face

Additional DCP Shailendra Singh Chauhan said that in 2023, the department of telecommunications had identified suspicious mobile connections using an AI-based facial recognition tool known as ASTR. The system flagged cases where more than 50 SIM cards were linked to a single face. Based on this input, the cyber crime team in Bhopal initiated a technical investigation that led to the exposure of the racket.