City of London Police said Ajay Shinjin, 25, was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday to two and a half years in prison. He had pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and transferring criminal property. The scheme, which took place in November 2021, involved taking over victims' phone numbers through SIM swapping to intercept one-time security codes and drain cryptocurrency accounts.
According to police, four victims lost a combined total of nearly $260,000. One victim lost about £40,000, with roughly £27,000 moved into Shinjin's personal crypto account; another had about £17,000 stolen, which investigators traced entirely to his wallet. Shinjin helped facilitate two further thefts of approximately £8,000 and £130,000, though those funds were transferred elsewhere.
Telecommunications company BT flagged unauthorized activity on its systems, and investigators linked Shinjin to four devices using eSIMs. He was first arrested in 2021 and then again at Heathrow Airport in October 2023 after returning from Dubai. Police said he used the proceeds for luxury holidays and gold-plated dental grills. Detective Constable Simon Ardeman described the scheme as complex and calculated, and warned that SIM-swap fraud is a sophisticated and increasingly concerning form of offending.