Most people have never checked how many SIM cards are registered against their CNIC, and that is exactly why SIM fraud works. A CNIC can be used to register SIMs without the owner ever knowing — through a dishonest retailer, a mishandled biometric at the point of sale, or a photocopy that ended up in the wrong hands. Those SIMs then sit in your name.
If one of them is later used for a scam, a fraud call, or worse, the trail leads back to your identity. You find out when there is already a problem, rather than when you could still have prevented one.
The check itself takes under a minute and costs nothing. This guide walks through it.
The Free PTA 668 Service
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority operates a free service for exactly this purpose. It works from any Pakistani SIM on any network and needs no internet connection.
Open your messaging app. Type your 13-digit CNIC number with no dashes and no spaces — for example 4220112345671. Send it to 668.
Within moments an automated reply arrives showing how many SIMs are registered against that CNIC, generally broken down by network across Jazz, Zong, Telenor, and Ufone.
That is the entire process. No app to install, no account, no fee beyond an ordinary SMS charge.
Reading Your Result
The reply gives you a count. Compare it against the SIMs you actually use and can account for — your own phone, a second handset, a data SIM in a device, a SIM you gave to a family member but registered yourself.
If the totals match, nothing more is needed. If the reply shows more SIMs than you can account for, that difference is the important part. Those extra registrations are either forgotten SIMs you stopped using years ago without formally cancelling, or SIMs someone else registered using your identity.
Old, abandoned SIMs still count against your limit and should be cleaned up. Unrecognised SIMs are a security matter and need action.
Check Your CNIC Status at the Same Time
The SIM count tells you one part of the picture. The other part is whether your CNIC record itself is healthy. A card that has quietly expired, or that has been blocked for a duplicate-record issue, creates its own problems across banking, property, and telecom transactions.
DB Center's CNIC verification tool shows whether your CNIC is currently active, expired, or blocked. Running it alongside the 668 check gives you a complete snapshot of your identity status in about two minutes.
If the Numbers Do Not Match
Finding unknown SIMs is unsettling but manageable. The remedy is to visit the relevant network's franchise or customer service centre with your original CNIC and formally report the unauthorised registrations. The operator verifies your identity biometrically and blocks the SIMs you did not authorise, updating PTA's records in the process.
If the unknown SIMs span more than one network, you will need to repeat this at each operator's franchise, since each holds its own registration records.
Where an unfamiliar number has actually been contacting you, DB Center's number trace tool can surface the basic associated information a lookup can legitimately return, and a broader identity search helps you cross-reference whatever partial details you already hold.
Make It a Habit, Not a One-Off
The single most common mistake is treating this as something you do once. SIM fraud does not announce itself, and a CNIC that was clean last year may not be clean today. Running the 668 check every few months — or whenever you have handed over a CNIC copy for a form, a rental, or a registration — catches problems while they are still small.
It is also worth being sceptical about the monitoring apps that cluster around this subject. Many services marketed as phone tracker tools promise far more than they deliver and harvest your data in the process, and the same applies to the various WhatsApp tracker services. The official PTA channel is free, authoritative, and does not ask you to install anything.
The Short Version
Text your 13-digit CNIC number with no dashes to 668 and read the reply. If the SIM count matches what you use, you are fine. If it does not, take your original CNIC to the relevant operator's franchise and have the unauthorised SIMs blocked. Repeat the check every few months, because a clean result today is not a permanent guarantee.