Cyber fraud crackdown: Delhi Police bust SIM Box racket operating nationwide; 7 held, including foreign national

NEW DELHI: The IFSO Unit of Delhi Police has uncovered a widespread SIM Box operation running across multiple states and arrested seven key figures, including a Taiwanese national, officials said.According to police, the group had set up a large-scale SIM Box network by exploiting loopholes in telecom systems to carry out cyber fraud against people across the country. During the raids, investigators recovered thousands of SIM cards that had been procured illegally. A SIM Box is a specialised device capable of housing hundreds of SIM cards at once and is used to route international calls as domestic ones, allowing operators to evade telecom charges and regulatory oversight.Police said the equipment was also used to send mass SMS campaigns carrying phishing links, fake loan offers and fraudulent investment pitches. By disguising the true source of calls and messages, the accused made it difficult for law enforcement agencies to trace the origin of the scams. Further investigation in the case is ongoing.In a related development, Delhi Police said that in December 2025, the IFSO Unit had also busted an elaborate cyber-enabled fake recruitment racket that targeted hundreds of job seekers by posing as officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) under the Ministry of Culture.Officials said the accused created a forged but highly convincing ASI recruitment website and advertised non-existent government vacancies to dupe unemployed youth across India. A case was registered under FIR No. 268/25 at the Special Cell police station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).Police alleged that the gang falsely advertised vacancies for seven Curator posts and 84 Junior Assistant posts, and widely circulated links to the fake portal through college student groups, online forums and messaging platforms. The fraudulent website reportedly mirrored the official ASI site, using identical logos, colour schemes and layouts, making it almost indistinguishable from the genuine government portal.