Cyber Crime / Fake SIM Racket Busted in Sambalpur, 3 Arrested

Sambalpur, Sep 24: The Sambalpur Cyber Police have busted a fake SIM card racket and arrested three people including a woman for allegedly preparing and selling duplicate SIM cards using forged documents, police said on Thursday.

The arrested accused have been identified as Suraj Bag (24) of Panchput, Malati Oram alias Mala (29) of Sinapali, and Papu alias Sheikh Parwez (32) of Motijharan, Sambalpur.

Police said the trio was involved in producing multiple SIM cards against a single customer identity and selling the extra cards to others.

The case came to light during investigation of Cyber Police Station Case No. 34 dated September 22, 2026. According to Police officials, the accused would collect customer identity proofs and prepare multiple SIMs against one number. While handing over one SIM to the customer, they retained the additional cards and sold them illegally.

Investigations revealed that some of these SIMs were being used in cybercrimes in Jamtara, Jharkhand, a region notorious for online fraud. Police also found evidence that the proceeds from SIM sales were being shared among the accused and their associates.
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During the raid, police seized four mobile phones, four active SIMs, 120 sealed Airtel SIM cards, three bank passbooks, a chequebook, Aadhaar cards, a PhonePe QR code scanner, four affidavits, a house rent agreement, 10 Airtel pamphlets, and four Airtel 5G Plus signboards.

Police said the investigation is continuing to identify others involved in the network, the total number of SIMs prepared, their distribution, and the scale of financial transactions. The police are also probing deeper links between the Sambalpur racket and cybercrime networks in Jamtara.