To combat fraudulent activities involving mobile phone SIM cards, the government announced on Thursday a series of measures aimed at curbing bulk SIM card sales. These measures include the mandatory registration of franchisees, agents, distributors, or point-of-sale locations by telecom companies, as well as police verification for SIM card dealers.
Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw emphasized that bulk purchases of SIM cards have been completely prohibited. However, telecom companies will still be permitted to provide connections or SIM cards for businesses, corporate use, or events. Every individual SIM card owner will need to comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements.
“We anticipate that these two reforms will bring about significant changes in the prevention of cyber fraud and the protection of users,” the minister stated. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will issue comprehensive guidelines to implement these measures.
Previously, individuals could purchase mobile SIM cards in bulk. This provision has now been eliminated, with a new business connection provision introduced to counter fraudulent calls.
Entities can obtain multiple mobile connections, provided that complete KYC is conducted for all end-users. Activation of SIM cards will only occur following successful KYC and physical verification of the entity’s premises and address. In addition to thumbprints and iris-based authentication in the Aadhaar E-KYC process, facial biometric authentication is also permitted. Individuals can still acquire up to nine SIM cards using a single form of identification.
Under the point-of-sale registration reform, sellers will be required to enter into a written agreement with the telecom service provider or licensee. Any seller engaging in illegal activities will have their association with the telecom company terminated, be blacklisted for three years, and face a penalty of ₹10 lakh. The government has allowed a 12-month grace period for compliance, during which all existing sellers must register with telecom companies. This move is expected to aid in identifying, blacklisting, and removing rogue sellers from the carriers’ systems.
In the KYC reforms, to prevent the misuse of Aadhaar, demographic information must be captured by scanning the QR code on the printed Aadhaar of individuals applying for new SIM cards or requesting a replacement for an existing one.
In case of disconnection, a mobile number will be allocated to a new customer after 90 days. Replacing a SIM card will require full KYC, and there will be a 24-hour restriction on outgoing and incoming SMS services.
These reforms are an addition to those introduced in May 2023, including the Sanchar Saathi portal for reporting stolen or lost mobile handsets and blocking them, as well as the AI-based software ASTR for identifying illegal mobile connections.
The DoT has made significant progress, detecting 6.6 million illegal mobile connections, disconnecting 5.2 million connections, blacklisting 67,000 point-of-sale locations, and blocking 17,000 mobile handsets. Over 300 FIRs have been filed against more than 1,700 points of sale or sellers, while 66,000 WhatsApp accounts have been blocked. Additionally, 800,000 bank or wallet accounts used by fraudsters have been frozen. Out of approximately 1.8 million complaints about fraudulently registered mobile connections, 926,000 have been resolved. Out of 750,000 complaints about stolen or lost mobile handsets, 300,000 mobile handsets have been traced.
