The Karnataka Cyber Command Unit has dismantled a suspected SIM box network operating from two apartments in Bengaluru’s Whitefield area, recovering equipment capable of handling 320 SIM connections and arresting four people in Maharashtra over an alleged e-SIM supply chain.
The operation followed a complaint from the Chief Circle Nodal Officer of Bharti Airtel Limited, Bengaluru, about the unauthorised use of Airtel SIM cards in a SIM box setup in Whitefield and Kadugodi. The Cyber Crime Police Station in Whitefield registered Crime No. 286/2026 on August 26 and began an investigation, according to a press note issued by Karnataka DGP, Cyber Command, Pronab Mohanty.
Investigators identified two facilities in separate apartments under the Whitefield division. One was located in Kadugodi and the other in Pattandur Agrahara. Police conducted the operation with the Department of Telecommunications, Karnataka, and seized 10 SIM box devices, also known as GSM gateways.
Six devices were recovered from the Kadugodi facility. Each had 32 SIM slots, with 192 slots configured with e-SIM-provisioned connections from various telecom providers. Four similar devices were seized at Pattandur Agrahara, accounting for another 128 slots. Together, the two facilities had a capacity of 320 SIM connections.
Police said both facilities had been established and operated by the same criminal network. The devices are being examined to determine their precise operational role. According to the investigation, the setup is suspected to have facilitated fraudulent communications linked to digital-arrest scams, sextortion and financial frauds reported across India.
The scale of the seized equipment shows how residential premises can be used to host telecom infrastructure with the capacity to support large volumes of communications. In this case, the facilities were found in two apartment locations in Bengaluru’s rapidly urbanising eastern corridor, bringing a cybercrime investigation into the city’s housing and communications environment.
Police said preliminary leads indicate that the network’s financial exposure could run into hundreds of crores of rupees. The statement did not provide a confirmed estimate of the amount lost or identify the individual victims connected to the suspected operations.
The investigation also led authorities to Tiroda in Gondia district, Maharashtra, where police traced an alleged supply chain involving the sale of SIM cards and their conversion into e-SIM profiles. Four residents of Tiroda were arrested in connection with the e-SIM supply chain.
Their arrests are being treated by investigators as a breakthrough in tracing the procurement and provisioning of e-SIM resources used in the suspected cybercrime operation. Police are continuing to establish the role of each accused and determine the links between the SIM and e-SIM supply chain and the alleged digital-arrest, sextortion and financial-fraud activities.
