Crypto thief who splurged on gold grills sentenced in London

A 25-year-old man who helped steal nearly $260,000 in cryptocurrency through a SIM-swapping fraud scheme was sentenced to two and a half years in prison at a London court on Thursday.

Ajay Shinjin, of Canary Wharf in London, used the stolen funds to finance an expensive lifestyle that included luxury holidays in Dubai and gold-plated dental grills, according to City of London Police.

Shinjin, also known as AJ Marley Cruz, was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court after pleading guilty in September to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and transferring criminal property.

The fraud took place in November 2021, when criminals took control of victims’ telephone numbers to gain access to their cryptocurrency accounts by transferring the victim’s phone numbers to SIM cards controlled by the fraudsters.

The criminals then intercepted one-time security codes sent by text message, allowing them to bypass account protections and access bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets.

Telecommunications company BT identified unauthorized activity on its systems and discovered that customer telephone numbers had been transferred to SIM cards controlled by criminals.

Investigators traced this activity to several devices capable of using electronic SIM cards, or eSIMs. Data provided by BT helped police identify several suspects, including Shinjin, who was linked to four devices used in the scheme.

Police identified four victims whose cryptocurrency accounts were compromised during the first week of November 2021.

One victim lost approximately £40,000 ($58,000) in cryptocurrency, with about £27,000 ($35,000) transferred into Shinjin’s personal cryptocurrency account. A second victim had approximately £17,000 ($22,000) stolen. Investigators later traced the entire amount to Shinjin’s cryptocurrency wallet.

A third victim lost about £8,000 ($10,000) from a Coinbase account while a fourth had approximately £130,000 ($172,000) worth of cryptocurrency stolen. Police said Shinjin helped facilitate both of the latter thefts, although the stolen funds were transferred elsewhere.

Shinjin was initially arrested at his London apartment in 2021. He was arrested again at Heathrow Airport in October 2023 after returning from Dubai, following the discovery of additional evidence. He declined to answer questions during police interviews.

Detective Constable Simon Ardeman of City of London Police described the scheme as “a complex and calculated fraud that caused significant financial harm to a number of victims,” and warned “SIM-swap fraud is a sophisticated and increasingly concerning form of offending.”

The police said Shinjin’s conviction demonstrated that criminals who exploit technology to commit financial fraud would be held accountable. “This conviction sends a clear message that those who use technology to commit fraud will be brought to justice,” they said.