BHUBANESWAR: Concerned over the seizure of over 16,000 illegal pre-activated SIM cards from a criminal gang here on Tuesday, the Bhubaneswar Commissionerate Police wrote to telecom operators to further strengthen their customer verification systems.
Seven people, including two employees of a private telecom company, were arrested for allegedly selling pre-activated SIM cards to cybercriminals in other states.
According to an order issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on August 9, 2012, the sale of pre-activated SIM cards is illegal and anyone promoting such dishonest practice should be fined Rs 50,000.
However, the police are on their toes as the illegal sale and purchase of pre-activated SIM cards continues unabated Orissa Despite action from time to time.
“We have asked telecom service providers to stop complete verification of customers. Since the final activation is done at the telecom operators end, the responsibility lies with them. If the telecom operators do proper verification then it is not possible to issue pre-activated SIM cards,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Uma Shankar Das.
Police said the SIM cards cannot be activated until the details of the customers are made available in the central database of the respective service providers.
As per extant DOT norms, the Customer Acquisition Form (CAF) will be duly filled and signed by the customers in person at the point of sale (POS).
The authorized person in PoS shall record in the CAF that he has seen the subscriber and match the photograph attached on the CAF.
The mobile connection will be activated only after the customer fulfills all the requirements and the details are updated in the licensee’s customer database.
The DoT order states that bulk mobile connections, in which individuals are not allowed to issue 10 or more than 10 SIM cards in the same name. Bulk mobile connections are only available to companies or organizations with certain conditions.
The Commissionerate Police has warned of legal action against telecom firms if their employees are found colluding with vendors to sell pre-activated SIM cards to achieve their sales target.
“We will take some of the accused on remand to identify the other gang members. We can write to WhatsApp to know if anyone used an already activated SIM card,” Dash said.
It will be time for a trial for the commissionerate police to trace the cyber criminals who had purchased pre-activated SIMs from the accused. Police said the gang has already sold over 2 lakh pre-activated SIMs in the last few months.
Seven people, including two employees of a private telecom company, were arrested for allegedly selling pre-activated SIM cards to cybercriminals in other states.
According to an order issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on August 9, 2012, the sale of pre-activated SIM cards is illegal and anyone promoting such dishonest practice should be fined Rs 50,000.
However, the police are on their toes as the illegal sale and purchase of pre-activated SIM cards continues unabated Orissa Despite action from time to time.
“We have asked telecom service providers to stop complete verification of customers. Since the final activation is done at the telecom operators end, the responsibility lies with them. If the telecom operators do proper verification then it is not possible to issue pre-activated SIM cards,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Uma Shankar Das.
Police said the SIM cards cannot be activated until the details of the customers are made available in the central database of the respective service providers.
As per extant DOT norms, the Customer Acquisition Form (CAF) will be duly filled and signed by the customers in person at the point of sale (POS).
The authorized person in PoS shall record in the CAF that he has seen the subscriber and match the photograph attached on the CAF.
The mobile connection will be activated only after the customer fulfills all the requirements and the details are updated in the licensee’s customer database.
The DoT order states that bulk mobile connections, in which individuals are not allowed to issue 10 or more than 10 SIM cards in the same name. Bulk mobile connections are only available to companies or organizations with certain conditions.
The Commissionerate Police has warned of legal action against telecom firms if their employees are found colluding with vendors to sell pre-activated SIM cards to achieve their sales target.
“We will take some of the accused on remand to identify the other gang members. We can write to WhatsApp to know if anyone used an already activated SIM card,” Dash said.
It will be time for a trial for the commissionerate police to trace the cyber criminals who had purchased pre-activated SIMs from the accused. Police said the gang has already sold over 2 lakh pre-activated SIMs in the last few months.
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