A 25-year-old man in the UK who helped steal nearly £200,000 (around ₹ 2.5 crore) worth of cryptocurrency through SIM-swapping fraud has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Ajay Shinjin, also known as AJ Marley Cruz, received more than £44,000 (around ₹ 56 lakh) of the stolen money, which he spent on luxury holidays in Dubai , a high-end apartment in London’s Canary Wharf and gold-plated teeth grills, according to a press release by City of London Police.
Police identified four victims whose cryptocurrency holdings were stolen during the period. Shinjin was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday, October 8, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and transferring criminal property on September 28. A fourth victim lost approximately £130,000 worth of cryptocurrency between November 6 and 7.
Police said Shinjin also facilitated this theft.
SIM swapping is a form of fraud in which criminals transfer a victim’s phone number to a SIM card or device under their control. Once they gain control of the number, they can receive one-time passwords (OTPs) sent through text messages and use them to access accounts protected by SMS-based authentication. The entire amount was subsequently traced to Shinjin’s personal crypto wallet.
One victim lost approximately £40,000 worth of cryptocurrency on November 2, 2021, of which around £27,000 was transferred to Shinjin’s personal cryptocurrency account. A second victim had approximately £17,000 worth of cryptocurrency stolen between November 5 and 7.
In this case, BT identified unauthorised activity affecting customers during the first week of November 2021. The company’s investigation identified devices used to receive transferred phone numbers. The devices were eSIM-enabled and had two IMEI numbers. Data provided by BT helped investigators identify several suspects, including Shinjin, who was linked to four devices used in SIM-swapping incidents.
