How crime syndicates are getting SIM cards without submitting any ID

HYDERABAD: Easy availability of SIM cards to criminals has made the task of police difficult. Investigations into recent cases have revealed how criminals are in touch with organised gangs for getting SIM cards without submitting any ID proofs. In some cases, SIMs were delivered at the doorstep through post, which rises alarm about the hassle-free access to SIM cards.

By using these SIMs, fraudsters were conning people through various means by making telephone calls, which invariably is leading the probe to a dead end. Cop claims that since the SIMs are registered in someone else's name, investigation is taking time to get to the root of the racket in identifying the actual suppliers.

Recently, Cyberabad and Rachakonda police have come across these leads about the role of a few gangs operating from Noida, Delhi and Bengaluru behind the supply of activated SIM cards. Credible sources told TOI that people were being lured through advertisements on social media about the supply of activated SIMs without ID proofs.


After the arrest of a culprit from Eluru in Andhra Pradesh in a fake credit card scam, police seized several SIM cards from his possession, Cyberabad police sources said. "When questioned about the supplier, he disclosed that he had been getting them through post from Noida by paying a few hundred rupees," a Cyberabad police officer, requesting anonymity, said.