Centre makes police verification mandatory for SIM card dealers
New Delhi: The government has made police verification of SIM card dealers mandatory and discontinued the provision of bulk connections to curb fraudulent activities, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday.
The minister said the government has disconnected 52 lakh mobile connections.
While 67,000 dealers have been blacklisted, 300 FIRs have been filed against SIM card dealers since May 2023.
The minister said WhatsApp on its own blocked around 66,000 accounts that were involved in fraudulent activities.
“Now, it will be mandatory for new dealers (of mobile SIM cards) to go through a police verification and biometric verification. Registration will also be compulsory for all point-of-sale dealers now,” Union telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced in a briefing. He said a penalty of Rs 10 lakh will be imposed on those found violating rules.
“Earlier, people used to buy (mobile) SIM cards in bulk. There was a provision for this to buy SIM cards in bulk. However, it has been decided to end this provision. Instead, we will bring a proper business connection provision which will help in stopping fraudulent calls,” the minister said.
Vaishnaw said there are 10 lakh SIM dealers and they will be given sufficient time for police verification. He added that the Department of Telecommunications has also discontinued the provision of bulk connections and instead a new concept of business connection will be introduced.
“Besides, KYC of businesses, KYC of person taking handover of SIM will also be done,” Vaishnaw said.
In May this year, the Punjab Police had blocked over 1.8 lakh SIM cards allegedly activated using fake identities, and also arrested 17 people for issuing such SIM cards.
The Punjab Police’s Internal Security wing along with the Department of Telecom carried out an aggressive crackdown against distributors and agents involved in selling SIM cards using fake IDs, news reports suggested.
The Punjab Police had said a majority of cyber crimes and ‘anti-national’ acts were carried out using the mobile numbers linked to false documents.
With agency inputs
