Centre makes police verification of SIM dealers mandatory; bulk connections discontinued to curb frauds

The minister said WhatsApp on its own blocked around 66,000 accounts that were involved in fraudulent activities.

To combat cyber fraud and prevent the misuse of SIM cards for criminal activities, the government has decided mandatory verification of dealers selling SIM cards and discontinue the provision of issuing bulk connections, Telecom Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw announced here on Thursday.

Announcing new rules for mobile SIM card dealers, the minister said the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) would also discontinue the current provision that allows business entities to buy SIM cards in bulk. Instead, it will bring in a concept of business SIM connections.

Though earlier the minister said verification of SIM card dealers will be carried out by police, later he clarified that this task will be carried out by "the licensee" or the respective telecom operator.

"The verification will be done by telecom operators who will collect the details of each business owner and his business-related documents for verification before appointing a dealer," he said.

Vaishnaw said the new rules would be implemented from October 1 and dealers will be given sufficient time for verification. It was estimated that there are 10 lakh SIM dealers in the country.

“Several incidents showed us that there is a 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 Rs 10 lakh,” Vaishnaw said.

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

The government will introduce a new business SIM connection rule, allowing companies to continue buying in bulk but only after disclosing their GST no., PAN and Income Tax information. Individuals receiving the connections must also mandatorily comply with KYC norms. Non-compliance will result in disconnection, he said.

However, the minister clarified that no limit will be placed on the number of business connections that an entity can acquire, maintaining the current practice. Individual subscribers, on the other hand, will continue to have a maximum limit of nine mobile connections.

Earlier, detailed documentation of dealers was not prescribed in the rule.

Action taken

Since the launch of the Sanchar Saathi portal, the government detected and deactivated 52 lakh connections which were fraudulently obtained. The government also blacklisted 67,000 dealers engaged in selling mobile SIM cards. He added that FIRs have been filed against 300 SIM card dealers since May 2023. WhatsApp also on its own blocked around 66,000 accounts that were involved in fraudulent activities, he said.