# India: police arrest OTP-farming networks that sold verification codes for crypto

*Legal · 2 Nov 2026*

Indian police have arrested members of so-called OTP-farming networks. The networks used Indian SIM cards, some activated with stolen or misused identity documents, to receive one-time passwords and sell them to criminal groups abroad.

According to the report, Mumbai Cyber Police arrested three men in a case where 669 active SIM cards were seized, along with 100 handsets. The codes were allegedly sold to handlers in Cambodia through Telegram for about USD 13 each, paid in Tether (USDT). In a separate case in Ahmedabad, police and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre alleged that a network operating across 26 states had sold about 21,000 OTPs over five years.

For the virtual number market the case shows how SIM-based verification is abused at scale, and why providers that rent or sell SIM-based numbers face strict identity checks and crypto payment monitoring. The reporting describes the arrests; it does not name any virtual number provider.

Source: [Mathrubhumi English, 2 November 2026](https://english.mathrubhumi.com/technology/otp-farming-indian-sim-cards-global-cybercrime-scams-ek3leygs)

## Sources

- [OTP farming turns Indian SIM cards into tools for global cybercrime - Mathrubhumi English](https://english.mathrubhumi.com/technology/otp-farming-indian-sim-cards-global-cybercrime-scams-ek3leygs)

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Please cite: Source: cryptonumberss.com (cryptovss), as of 2 Nov 2026, https://cryptonumberss.com/en/news/india-otp-farming-sim-network-arrests-crypto-payment/