SIM owner details: there is no legal check, but you can see SIMs on your CNIC

"SIM owner details" is the most searched version of this question in Pakistan, and the honest answer is that there is no legal way to look up the name behind someone else's number. PTA says it does not hold subscriber data, and the operators do not release it. Every site and app promising otherwise is either selling leaked data, which is a crime to use, or harvesting yours.

Quick answer: send your 13-digit CNIC (no dashes) to 668, or enter it at cnic.sims.pk, to see how many SIMs are on your CNIC per operator. The limit is five SIMs per CNIC.

What you can check, in one SMS, is how many SIMs are registered on your own CNIC. That matters, because a SIM on your CNIC is your legal responsibility: if someone uses it for fraud, harassment or a scam call, the trail leads to you.

This guide covers the two official checks (SMS 668 and cnic.sims.pk, re-checked on 28 October 2026: cnic.sims.pk was live and unchanged, still offering the CNIC and Foreign ID checks and the 76367 network check), the five SIM limit, how to block a number you do not recognise, how to escalate to PTA, and what the law says about the "SIM owner details" sites.

Can you find out who owns a mobile number in Pakistan?

No, not through any official channel. To be specific about what exists and what does not:

If a number is harassing or defrauding you, the route is a complaint to the operator and to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency, not an unmasking site. The NCCIA can lawfully get the subscriber record; you cannot.

What you can and cannot check

• You can check: how many active SIMs are issued on your own CNIC, broken down by operator (Jazz, Zong, Telenor, Ufone/Onic).
• The official checks do not list the phone numbers themselves, only the count per operator. To find which numbers they are, you visit the operator.
• You cannot officially look up who owns someone else's number. PTA says it does not hold subscriber data at all; that data stays with the licensed operators, and they do not release it to the public.

Method 1: SMS to 668

1. Open the messages app on any Pakistani SIM.
2. Type your 13-digit CNIC number without dashes, for example 3520212345671.
3. Send it to 668.
4. You get a reply with the number of active SIMs on that CNIC for each operator.

Cost: ProPakistani lists the charge as Rs 2 plus tax per SMS.

Method 2: cnic.sims.pk (PTA's SIM Information System)

1. Go to cnic.sims.pk (type it yourself, do not follow a link from an ad or a WhatsApp forward).
2. Enter your CNIC in the CNIC Number field, digits only (the page's own example is 6110123456789). Foreign nationals use the Foreign ID field.
3. Complete the verification step and press Submit.
4. The page shows the total SIMs registered on your CNIC by operator.

The same page lists a second service: send N 03xx3456789 to 76367 (Rs 2 plus tax) to find out which network a number is currently on, which is useful after number portability.

How many SIMs are allowed on one CNIC

On 9 September 2026 the PTA chairman told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior that a maximum of five SIMs can be registered against one CNIC, and a sixth cannot be issued once the limit is reached.

If your check shows more SIMs than you use, or shows you at the limit when you only own two, treat it as a warning sign and act on the next section.

How to block a SIM you do not recognise

1. Note the operator from your 668 or cnic.sims.pk result.
2. Visit that operator's franchise or customer service centre with your original CNIC. Operators confirm your identity with biometric verification (thumbprint).
3. Ask for a list of numbers issued on your CNIC and point out the ones that are not yours.
4. Ask for those numbers to be blocked or disowned and keep the reference number the staff give you.
5. Run the 668 check again after a day or two to confirm the count has dropped.
6. If the operator does not act, complain to PTA through complaint.pta.gov.pk or the PTA consumer support line 0800-55055 (toll-free, 9am to 9pm, seven days a week as last listed by PTA).

Operator helplines

Helpline calls from your own SIM are usually charged (Zong and Telenor list Rs 2 plus tax). Blocking a number still needs the franchise visit if you are disowning a SIM rather than reporting your own phone lost.

Complaining to PTA about your operator

The same PTA channels that handle a disowned SIM handle service complaints, and the order works the same way every time.

1. Complain to the operator first and get a complaint number. PTA expects you to have given the operator a chance before it takes the case.
2. If the operator does not fix it, escalate to PTA through its complaint portal at complaint.pta.gov.pk or the consumer support line 0800-55055 (toll-free, 9am to 9pm, seven days a week as last listed by PTA).
3. Give PTA specifics. Your CNIC, the number, the operator, the operator's complaint number, and for a coverage or call-quality problem the exact address plus the dates and times it fails. A complaint tied to one address is one PTA can send a team to measure. A general complaint is not.
4. Keep your own record. Dates, times and screenshots are what you use when asking a postpaid operator for a credit.

This matters more than usual this month. PTA has told operators to fix coverage across Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and along the Kashmir Highway and Islamabad Expressway, by October, with its own teams doing field checks. Logged complaints are what tell the regulator where the holes are. See PTA gives mobile operators to October to fix Islamabad and Rawalpindi signals.

Your own SIM lost or stolen

Jazz says blocking a lost or stolen SIM through *8822# or its 111 helpline is free and immediate. Other operators do the same through their helplines. Block first, then get a replacement SIM on the same number at a franchise with your original CNIC and biometric verification.

Transferring a SIM of a family member who has died

Jazz lists this as free, done in 2 business days (4 for golden numbers), and only for a blood relative on the family registration certificate. Bring:

• Original family registration certificate (FRC) from NADRA
• NOC or affidavit from other family members
• Original CNIC of the deceased (or CNIC cancellation certificate)
• Your original CNIC
• Death certificate from a government body
• The physical SIM

Other operators ask for a similar set; Zong's list also mentions recent call or recharge history and an FIR if the SIM is lost.

Why "SIM owner details" sites are a scam, and illegal

Search for "sim owner details" and you will find dozens of sites and apps promising the name, CNIC and address behind any number. Avoid them:

• They are not official. PTA and the operators do not publish subscriber data. PTA says it does not even hold it.
• The data, when real, is leaked. In September 2025 PTA said it had blocked 1,372 sites, apps and social media pages selling or sharing personal data; Dawn reported location data on sale for Rs 500, call and data records for Rs 2,000 and travel details for Rs 5,000.
• Using it is a crime. Section 16 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 punishes anyone who obtains, sells, possesses, transmits or uses another person's identity information without authorisation with up to three years in jail, a fine of up to Rs 5 million, or both.
• Many simply harvest your data. You type in a number, they collect your details, or push you to pay for "premium" results.

If a number is harassing or defrauding you, report it to the operator and to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) rather than trying to unmask it yourself.

Reporting a scam call, fraud or harassment to NCCIA

When a number on your phone is being used to cheat or harass you, the agency that can lawfully trace it is the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), which took over cybercrime from the FIA. Its complaint portal is complaint.nccia.gov.pk (type the address yourself).

On 28 September 2026 the NCCIA asked citizens to attach evidence to every complaint so it can act quickly, ARY News reported. The same day the interior minister told the agency to step up action against online financial fraud and harassment, The Express Tribune reported. Before you file, collect:

1. Screenshots of the messages, posts or chats (WhatsApp, Facebook, X), with the date and time visible.
2. The phone numbers and account names involved.
3. Transaction details if money was lost: the bank, JazzCash or Easypaisa reference, the amount and the time.
4. Your own complaint number from the operator or bank, if you have already reported it there.

Report a fraudulent payment to your bank or wallet at once as well; the NCCIA complaint does not freeze the money.

Common mistakes

• Sending the CNIC with dashes to 668. Use digits only.
• Checking only once. Run the check every few months, and after you lose a phone or hand your CNIC copy to anyone.
• Ignoring an extra SIM because "it is probably an old one". An old SIM you no longer use should be disowned.
• Handing over your thumbprint casually. Only give biometrics at an operator's own franchise, never to a street vendor offering a "free SIM".
• Clicking links to "cnic.sims.pk" in forwards. Type the address yourself.

Related

• Bought a phone abroad? Work out what you will pay to register it with the PTA mobile tax calculator, and check PTA's own DIRBS portal at dirbs.pta.gov.pk before you buy.
• Using a SIM for the Rs 100 petrol relief? The SIM must be on your own CNIC: how the 9771 relief works.
• Paying for mobile load? See how much tax is deducted with the mobile load tax calculator.
• Worried about fake NADRA sites while renewing your CNIC? Read how to spot a fake 'NADRA Card Center' website.

Last reviewed 19 October 2026: cnic.sims.pk re-checked and loading, with the CNIC Number and Foreign ID fields, the instruction to enter your CNIC and press Submit, and the 76367 network check at Rs 2 plus tax. Previous reviews 3 October, and 30, 28 and 20 September 2026.