Centre makes police verification mandatory for SIM card dealers, discontinues bulk connections

In order to reduce cyber frauds performed through fraudulently acquired SIM cards, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will now require police verification for SIM dealers, Minister of Communications Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters on Thursday. Recent efforts to curb fraudulent mobile 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 said.

“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 said.

The detailed guidelines on these new penalties are yet to be published by the DoT.

The enforcement move follows the launch of the Sanchar Saathi portal in May, along with the wider roll-out of fraud detection mechanisms to identify individuals who have registered more than nine mobile connections, the maximum that is permitted.