A SIM-Swap Scammer Stole $265K in Crypto. His Phone Number Was the Whole Attack
A London man just got two and a half years in prison for a SIM-swap scam that drained almost £200,000 — around $265,000 — in cryptocurrency from multiple victims.
What actually happened
Ajay Shinjin, 25, of Canary Wharf, was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on 8 October 2026 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and transferring criminal property. He kept more than £44,000 of the proceeds and spent it on Dubai holidays, a high-end apartment and gold-plated teeth grills. Police first arrested him at his flat in 2021, then picked him up again at Heathrow in October 2023 as he flew back from Dubai.
How the attack worked
A SIM swap never cracks your password — it steals your phone number. Criminals talk your mobile carrier into porting that number onto a SIM card they control. Once it goes live, every one-time passcode your exchange texts you lands on the attacker's device instead. BT flagged the unauthorized number transfers back in November 2021, and its device data led police to several suspects; Shinjin was tied to four of the devices.
Why crypto holders are the target
Most SIM-swap victims are heavy crypto investors or early adopters, because phone-based two-factor authentication is often the last lock on an exchange account. SMS is not encrypted, so codes sent by text can be intercepted. That is the entire lesson: if your phone number is the key, your phone number is the weak point.
- Move from SMS codes to an authenticator app tied to your device — a hardware security key is better.
- Ask your carrier to add a separate PIN or passcode to your account.
- Stop posting your holdings on social media; attackers pick targets from public flexing.
The bottom line
Shinjin gave no comment in his police interviews, and investigators called the fraud "complex and calculated." For anyone holding crypto, the takeaway is blunt: your phone number was never a security layer, it was a username. Treat it that way, or someone else will.