Is Your SIM Being Used By Scammers?

May 24, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

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At the heart of a cybercrime, there’s often something deceptively small—a SIM card. Fraudsters are using SIM cards obtained through forged documents or complicit agents to run scams and disappear without a trace. 

Decode spoke to DSP Ankush Mishra of the Special Task Force, Uttarakhand Police to explain how ghost SIMs are created, misused, and how to protect yourself. Read on!

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Jyoti Rani Malhotra, a 33-year-old travel vlogger was arrested by Haryana Police on May 16, 2025, for allegedly spying for Pakistani intelligence agencies. According to police, Malhotra, who runs a YouTube channel called Travel with Jo, with over 377,000 subscribers was taken into custody after she was found allegedly sharing “sensitive information” with an official from the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi. 

Since then, several unrelated images with some of them generated using AI are circulating falsely claiming that she can be seen with leaders of different political parties. Here’s a breakdown of the claims BOOM has debunked so far:

Claim: Photos show Jyoti Malhotra pictured with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. 

Fact: BOOM analysed the two images, and found that the woman highlighted in the photo with PM Modi is a gamer named Payal Dhare, while the image of Malhotra with Akhilesh Yadav was found to be digitally altered. 

Claim: Photos show YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra seen with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Fact: BOOM found that the viral photos are digitally manipulated. The original photo shows Aditi Singh, a politician from Rae Bareli, and the second image shows a Congress supporter at the Bharat Jodo Yatra with Rahul Gandhi. 

Claim: An Aaj Tak news graphic shows travel vlogger Jyoti Malhotra wearing a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cap and scarf. 

Fact: BOOM ran the image through various AI detection tools, which showed very high likelihood of it being AI-generated. Also, Aaj Tak's social media team confirmed to BOOM that no such graphic was posted by its social media handles.

DECODE

Interview: How SIMs Issued In Your Name End Up In A Scammer’s Pocket

An individual can legally obtain up to nine SIM cards in India. Some take advantage of this limit —buying multiple SIMs in their own name, only to sell them to cybercriminals who use them to run scams, impersonate officials, or open fake bank accounts. 

What are ghost SIMs?: Others, meanwhile, become victims themselves, with SIM cards issued in their name without their knowledge, thanks to forged documents and complicit Point of Sale (PoS) agents. These are known as ghost SIMs—mobile numbers that exist on paper, but are used in the shadows. 

To understand the inner workings of this growing threat, Decode spoke with DSP Ankush Mishra of the Special Task Force, Uttarakhand Police, who has been closely tracking the changing landscape of cybercrime across India. 

Expert’s take: Speaking to Decode’s Hera Rizwan, Mishra breaks down how PoS agents exploit the eKYC process, reveals who benefits from this illicit trade, and—most crucially—shares what ordinary citizens must do to stay safe in a world where your identity can be sold for a few hundred rupees.

'FAKE NEWS’ YOU ALMOST FELL FOR

🔍 Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar in a speech quoted a fake article to claim that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had been declared "undisputed king of the skies" against India. Read 🔗 Srijit Das’ ↗️ fact-check.

🔍 Is this viral image of a newspaper clipping mentioning, "NASA Selects Indian Ayurvedic Doctor to Explore Role of Traditional Medicine in Space Travel” real? 🔗 Nidhi Jacob ↗️ tells you the truth.

🔍 Does this video show Indian Army's attack on Pakistan's nuclear site Kirana Hills? Find out in 🔗 Srijit Das’ ↗️ fact-check.

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🅱️ RECOMMENDS

This week's recommendation is: Detect DeepFakes: How to counteract misinformation created by AI

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