Key Takeaways
- • Ajay Shinjin, 25, of Canary Wharf, London, was jailed for two and a half years at Inner London Crown Court on October 8 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and transferring criminal property, according to SWNS.
- • Shinjin used a SIM swap scam in November 2021 to take control of victims' phone numbers and steal cryptocurrency worth roughly £200,000 across four victims.
- • Shinjin was arrested by City of London Police at Heathrow Airport on October 16, 2023, on his return from Dubai, after he had initially been arrested at his flat in 2021.
- • BT identified the fraud by tracing ported customer numbers to criminal-controlled SIM cards, linking Shinjin to four of the devices used.
- • Shinjin will serve the new sentence consecutively to an existing prison term for an unrelated offence, with release currently due in 2028.
Summary
A 25-year-old crypto fraudster, Ajay Shinjin, of Canary Wharf, London, has been jailed for two and a half years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and transferring criminal property, according to SWNS. He was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday, October 8. Shinjin, also known as AJ Marley Cruz, used a SIM swap scam to gain control of victims' mobile numbers and receive the passcodes needed to access their cryptocurrency accounts.
The fraud took place in November 2021. According to the report, one victim lost £40,000 in cryptocurrency, of which Shinjin received roughly £27,000. A second victim had £17,000 taken, which Shinjin kept. A third victim lost £8,000 from a Coinbase account, which Shinjin transferred elsewhere, and a fourth victim lost £130,000, which Shinjin helped facilitate. Shinjin spent more than £44,000 of the proceeds on a high-end apartment, gold-plated teeth grills and luxury holidays.
BT investigators identified that customer numbers had been ported to SIM cards controlled by criminals and traced the devices using IMEI numbers. Each device had two IMEI numbers because of its physical SIM slot and virtual eSIM capability. Shinjin was identified as controlling four of these devices, and all associated victims reported crimes in the first week of November 2021. Shinjin was first arrested at his flat in 2021 and was re-arrested by City of London Police at Heathrow Airport on October 16, 2023, after returning from Dubai. He gave no comment during police interview.
Shinjin is currently serving a separate prison sentence for an unrelated matter and is due for release in 2028. The two-year sentence will run consecutively to that term.
The fraud took place in November 2021. According to the report, one victim lost £40,000 in cryptocurrency, of which Shinjin received roughly £27,000. A second victim had £17,000 taken, which Shinjin kept. A third victim lost £8,000 from a Coinbase account, which Shinjin transferred elsewhere, and a fourth victim lost £130,000, which Shinjin helped facilitate. Shinjin spent more than £44,000 of the proceeds on a high-end apartment, gold-plated teeth grills and luxury holidays.
BT investigators identified that customer numbers had been ported to SIM cards controlled by criminals and traced the devices using IMEI numbers. Each device had two IMEI numbers because of its physical SIM slot and virtual eSIM capability. Shinjin was identified as controlling four of these devices, and all associated victims reported crimes in the first week of November 2021. Shinjin was first arrested at his flat in 2021 and was re-arrested by City of London Police at Heathrow Airport on October 16, 2023, after returning from Dubai. He gave no comment during police interview.
Shinjin is currently serving a separate prison sentence for an unrelated matter and is due for release in 2028. The two-year sentence will run consecutively to that term.
Go deeper than the headline
Research every firm in this story, track the ones that matter and get the daily briefing — free for 7 days.