India bans bulk SIM cards to dealers to stop fraud |
With 67,000 phone SIM card dealers blacklisted in recent months, India has sought the help of SIM dealers to lower cyber crimes and scam calls. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said on 17 August 2023 that it will now demand registration and "indisputable verification" of SIM sellers in order to prevent cyber crimes committed using fraudulently obtained SIM cards. India`s Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that recent attempts to stop fraudulent mobile connections have resulted in the blacklisting of 67,000 SIM dealers, 5.2 million connections, and the registration of more than 300 First Information Reports (FIR). "The data and information we viewed demonstrated to us that there is dealer complicity in cyber scams, where attackers acquire numbers in bulk, call and defraud victims using them, and then swiftly switch to another number. SIM dealers will be fined Indian Rupees 1 million if they are discovered to be involved in such scams, according to the Indian Minister. The DoT has not yet released the specific criteria for these new punishments. The enforcement action comes after the Sanchar Saathi portal`s May launch and the wider rollout of fraud detection tools to find anyone who have registered more than the allowable nine cell connections. Instead of continuing to offer bulk SIM connections to businesses, a "business" system is being implemented, requiring each corporate subscriber to complete KYC (`Know Your Customer`) prior to receiving a SIM. Companies must keep records on each subscriber under the current bulk method. To reduce fraud, physical Aadhaar prints or cards that are used as identification or address proof must also be validated by scanning the QR code. According to Vaishnaw, a transitional period will be offered to bulk customers so they can get themselves validated under the new system. He said further authentication criteria will continue to be waived for government, defense, and law enforcement bulk subscribers.
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