Powai Police Arrest SIM Sales Executive Over 300 Fake SIMs in Admission Scam
The Powai police have arrested a 21-year-old SIM gallery sales executive for allegedly supplying over 300 fraudulently activated SIM cards to fraudsters running a fake engineering admission scam. The accused, identified as Abu Saif, is the 11th person arrested in connection with the racket, which was originally registered by the police on July 17.
Saif, a resident of Versova who worked at a SIM gallery in the western suburbs, allegedly sold the unauthorized cards to fraudsters for ₹1,000 to ₹2,000 each without proper documentation in 2026. Sub-inspector Ramchandra Pinjarkar identified at least 23 specific SIM cards that were issued without genuine Know Your Customer verification.
According to police investigators, Saif exploited unsuspecting customers who visited his gallery to obtain new connections or replace damaged SIM cards. Under the pretext of completing mandatory KYC formalities, he took photographs of customers and used their submitted details to activate additional SIM cards using fake addresses without their knowledge or consent.
The fraudulently activated SIM cards were subsequently routed to fraudsters operating an admission scam targeting parents seeking college seats. In one instance, a Powai resident was duped out of ₹16.5 lakh after fraudsters promised to secure her son an admission to IIIT Hyderabad. A court has since directed the relevant bank to return the ₹16.5 lakh sum to the victim.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (West Zone-3) Datta Nalawade stated that the detection team tracked down the racket over a month-long investigation. Officers pieced together evidence by analysing cash collected from victims alongside transactions conducted at bank ATMs and petrol pumps.
Saif is currently lodged in jail and has filed an application seeking bail. Meanwhile, the alleged mastermind of the racket, 32-year-old Yuvraj Sharma, along with nine other accused individuals, was granted bail on a cash security of ₹25,000 each and released from Taloja jail on Wednesday.
