Tamil Nadu Cyber Crime Wing busts illegal SIM box racket in Chennai; two arrested

Image used for representation | Photo Credit: Getty Images The Tamil Nadu Cyber Crime Wing has busted an illegal SIM box operation at Saidapet in Chennai and arrested two persons, following intelligence inputs from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).Officials said SIM box facilities could be exploited by cybercriminals to route fraudulent calls through multiple SIM cards, impersonate government officials and other entities, conceal callers’ identities and locations, and evade conventional telecom tracking mechanisms. Such setups could facilitate organised cyber fraud, particularly telephone-based impersonation scams targeting unsuspecting members of the public.The arrested persons were identified as Srinivasan, a manager, and Sanjay, an IT department technician, who were allegedly involved in operating the unauthorised telecommunication setup.Based on specific intelligence received from the Tamil Nadu Licensed Service Area (TN LSA) of the DoT, a complaint was lodged requesting a joint surprise inspection of the premises.Addressing reporters, Superintendent of Police(SP) Cyber Crime Wing S. Selvanagarathinam along with other SPs, M. Meenakshi and S. Sakthivel, said a team comprising officials from the DoT and the Tamil Nadu Cyber Crime Wing conducted an inspection at the operational premises of M/s. Forte Management Services, located on the third and fourth floors of Bali Towers, Abdul Razaak First Street, Saidapet. The company’s registered office is situated on Potters Street, Saidapet.During the inspection, officials detected an unauthorised SIM box-based telecommunication setup capable of accommodating multiple SIM cards. The equipment was allegedly being operated without the requisite licence or authorisation from the competent authority.The team seized 10 SIM boxes, including units with 64 SIM slots and seven units with 32 SIM slots, besides one damaged SIM box, two CPUs, two servers, and 182 SIM cards.Preliminary analysis of the seized equipment and SIM cards revealed links to 301 complaints lodged on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) from different parts of the country. Of these, 52 complaints originated from Tamil Nadu.Further investigation is under way to establish the extent of the illegal telecom operations, trace the source and usage of the seized SIM cards, identify other persons and entities involved, and ascertain whether the facility was used to commit other offences. Published - November 12, 2026 03:51 pm IST