[UK Man Sentenced to Two and a Half Years in Prison for SIM Card Swapping Scam and Stealing Nearly £200,000 in Cryptocurrency] Deep Tide TechFlow reports that on October 9, according to Decrypt, London police stated that 25-year-old London resident Ajay Shinjin has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison by the Inner London Crown Court for participating in a 'complex and meticulously planned' SIM card swapping fraud, stealing nearly £200,000 (approximately $265,000) worth of cryptocurrency. Shinjin had previously pleaded guilty to charges of fraud by false representation and transferring criminal property. Investigations revealed that in November 2021, telecom operator BT detected unauthorized activity in its system, where customer phone numbers were transferred to SIM cards controlled by criminals to intercept one-time passcodes (OTP). Police tracked the receiving devices and identified Shinjin and other suspects. Shinjin personally benefited from over £44,000 of the stolen funds, which he spent on a vacation in Dubai, renting luxury apartments, and purchasing gold-plated dental grills. According to the UK's National Fraud Database, unauthorized SIM card swapping cases surged by 402% year-on-year in the first half of 2026. Cybersecurity experts recommend users adopt authenticator apps for two-factor authentication (2FA) instead of relying on SMS verification.