Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
| Photo Credit: ANI
In order to cut back cyber frauds carried out by fraudulently acquired SIM playing cards, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will now require police verification for SIM dealers, Minister of Communications Ashwini Vaishnaw advised reporters on Thursday. Recent efforts to curb fraudulent cellular connections have led to the blacklisting of 67,000 SIM dealers, 52 lakh connections, and the registration of over 300 First Information Reports (FIR), Mr. Vaishnaw stated.
“The data and evidence we saw showed us that there is complicity of dealers in cyber frauds, where attackers buy numbers in bulk, use them to call and defraud people, and quickly move on to another number. SIM dealers who are found complicit in such schemes will be fined ₹10 lakh,” Mr. Vaishnaw stated.
The detailed pointers on these new penalties are but to be revealed by the DoT.
The enforcement transfer follows the launch of the Sanchar Saathi portal in May, together with the broader roll-out of fraud detection mechanisms to establish people who’ve registered greater than 9 cellular connections, the utmost that’s permitted.
Bulk SIMs
The facility to present SIM connections in bulk to firms is being discontinued, and as a substitute a “business” system is being put in place, the place every company subscriber has to undertake KYC (‘Know Your Customer’) when a SIM is being issued to them. The current bulk system requires firms to protect information of particular person subscribers.
A transition interval will likely be offered for bulk subscribers to get themselves verified beneath the brand new regime, Mr. Vaishnaw stated. Government, protection and regulation enforcement bulk subscribers will proceed to be exempt from extra verification necessities, he added.
