Malaysian couriers allegedly used to route fraudulently activated SIM cards to Cambodian cybercrime operators

Massive Probe Triggered

The Enforcement Directorate has cracked open what investigators are calling one of the more elaborate cross-border cyber fraud operations linked to India in recent years. Acting under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the agency conducted raids across seven locations in Rajasthan and Punjab beginning June 5 — targeting a network that allegedly funnelled thousands of Indian SIM cards to Cambodia, where criminal outfits used them to run large-scale scams against Indian citizens.

The investigation was triggered by an FIR registered at the Jodhpur Cyber Police Station. Search operations spanned Kishangarh, Nagaur and Jodhpur in Rajasthan, as well as Ludhiana in Punjab. Agencies seized documents, digital evidence, multiple electronic devices and 14 mobile phones during the raids.

36,000 SIM Cards, 5,300 Fraud Links

The scale of the operation only became clear once investigators began analysing mobile data. Of roughly 2,30,000 suspicious numbers put under the scanner, nearly 36,000 Indian SIM cards were found to be active in Cambodia. Around 5,300 of those were directly traceable to cyber fraud cases filed in India — numbers used to facilitate scams running into hundreds of crores of rupees.

That's not a small leak in the system. It points to a sustained, organised supply chain that kept pushing Indian mobile numbers into foreign hands over a significant period.

How the Racket Was Structured

According to the ED, SIM vendors at the centre of this network exploited their access to telecom Point of Sale IDs to sign up targets. People — often from less educated or economically vulnerable backgrounds — were approached with offers of free SIM porting or new connections. What followed was straightforward but brazen: additional SIM cards were activated using the same documents, without the individuals' knowledge or consent.

Those extra SIM cards were then handed over to Malaysian nationals, who acted as couriers moving the cards out of India and into Cambodia. Once there, cybercrime operators used the Indian mobile numbers to carry out "digital arrest" frauds and various other online cheating schemes — all while appearing to contact victims from what looked like legitimate Indian numbers.

The 'Digital Arrest' Angle

The use of Indian SIM cards for digital arrest scams is particularly significant. In these frauds, callers impersonate law enforcement officials — CBI officers, customs agents, narcotics bureau personnel — and tell victims they are under investigation. Victims are kept on video calls for hours, sometimes days, told not to speak to anyone, and pressured into transferring large sums of money. The use of Indian mobile numbers lends the scam a veneer of credibility that makes victims less likely to hang up.

Having a local number flash on the screen has, in several documented cases, been the difference between a victim falling for the fraud or suspecting something off.

Rajasthan and Punjab in Focus

The geographic spread of the raids — covering both Rajasthan and Punjab — suggests the SIM activation network was not concentrated in one place. Kishangarh and Nagaur in Rajasthan, alongside Ludhiana in Punjab, are all areas with active telecom retail ecosystems, making them viable bases for POS-level fraud operations.

The ED has not yet named specific accused publicly, but the seizure of 14 mobile phones alongside digital evidence suggests the agency is working to establish communication chains and financial trails that could expand the scope of arrests.

What Comes Next

With money laundering charges in play, the ED's focus will likely shift toward tracing proceeds from the fraud network — identifying how payments moved from victims to the Cambodia-based operators, and whether any funds were repatriated or laundered through Indian accounts. Given the PMLA framework, asset attachment proceedings could follow as the investigation deepens.

For ordinary SIM card holders, the case is also a reminder that documents submitted even for routine telecom requests can, under the right conditions of negligence or fraud, end up enabling crimes thousands of kilometres away.