Overview
- The Cyber Crime Wing said Operation Octopus 3.0 exposed a nationwide ghost SIM ecosystem and led to the arrest of 66 people from 13 states as part of a wider May 2026 enforcement drive that saw 74 accused taken into custody.
- Authorities registered 54 FIRs in May across investment, trading, matrimonial, OTP, job and social media frauds as investigators traced SIM holders, point‑of‑sale agents and suppliers used to enable scams.
- Cyber patrol teams identified 251 social media profiles running 304 paid adverts for betting, gaming and fake investment sites during May and reported them for removal, bringing total takedowns to 678 profiles and 2,207 paid ads to date.
- Victim‑relief work in May recovered ₹68.27 lakh across 25 high‑loss cases and the city’s Zonal Cyber Cells logged 2,531 portal complaints with ₹25.32 lakh refunded and 23 arrests in 18 cases.
- The police said cutting the ghost SIM supply and removing fraudulent ads targets the core tools scammers use — including offers of quick profits, referral commissions and deepfake videos — which should make it harder for fraud rings to operate and speed prosecutions and refunds.