savramesh 37 Report post Posted September 9, 2009 Source NEW DELHI: A large sample test of 35 lakh SIM cards issued over two years until April 2009 has revealed that as many as six lakh SIMs—about one in six—do not have verifiable identities, raising fears that the process of issuing cell connections may be open to manipulation by criminals and terrorists. With almost every major terror investigation revealing the use of SIMs procured on the basis of fake IDs, the number of six lakh dodgy cards is very high, given that the government has been keen to push for a more thorough and fool-proof verification process. Recently, an entire series of 30,000 SIMs was cancelled in Jammu and Kashmir after a racket was busted and 12 people arrested. In the Indian Mujahideen case that rocked the country last year, fake SIMs were issued in Kolkata and sold in J&K to terrorist sympathizers. In the Hyderabad blasts case, a SIM card was issued in the name of a Noida doctor who had nothing to do with the terror attack. Results of the DoT survey has spurred the government to initiate a clean-up operation. While asking operators to cancel all such cards with immediate effect, DoT has imposed a hefty penalty on telecom operators that could amount to Rs 50,000 per fake customer detected. DoT’s monitoring cell has conducted its own verification against customer application forms submitted by operators. All telecom operators have to routinely submit their customer data of active connections which is made available to agencies like the Intelligence Bureau, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Enforcement Directorate, Military Intelligence, Narcotics Control Bureau and DoT’s monitoring cell. Sample data is regularly matched against customer application forms for verification of proof of address and photo of actual users by agencies to keep a check on misuse. Sources said the number of fake IDs had been going up despite the government’s tough talk. Penalties have been graded under five categories ranging from Rs 1,000 to a maximum of Rs 50,000 per unverified or fake customer detected. So far, the penalty was Rs 1,000 per SIM given out on fake identity. This was imposed last year after the IM blasts which were followed by the Mumbai attacks. The enhanced penalty has been made applicable from April 1, 2009. Already DoT has slapped fines on various operators which added up to Rs 58 crore until April. Interestingly, the verification of 35 lakh customer application forms in the last two years have revealed an accuracy rate of 60% to 89% for top six telecom operators. Last year, after a dressing down from the home ministry, all major telecom operators had promised to strictly abide by the procedures. The government is also keen to ensure that all active mobile users are checked and verified as monitoring conversations can be used as forensic evidence. The decision to impose a penalty on telecom operators was taken by the government last year after a TOI series highlighted how thousands of SIM cards were being issued to unverified customers even after instances of terrorists using them to trigger blasts had come to light and how the police were unable to track the culprits due to fake identity details. Reacting to the findings, a Bharti Airtel spokesperson said, “As a responsible company, Bharti Airtel complies with all the regulatory guidelines prescribed by the government. The company deploys world-class systems and processes to monitor subscriber information.’’ A spokesperson for Reliance Communication said since there were different parameters followed by Trai and DoT, there could be a possibility of variations. He, however, said the company had sent its response to the authorities. A senior BSNL official said since data on customer application forms were sent from different circles and at times some forms were not reported, this could have led to inaccuracies. Vodafone refused to comment. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Genius 817 Report post Posted September 9, 2009 yes its more severe then this same article has been discussed in My mobile mag this month. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manishag 17 Report post Posted September 11, 2009 well we knew it since long. and it's done at very large scale. many senior persons from various operators are involved in this. they just do it because at the end of the month they have to show the numbers in order to meet the monthly targets and to get hold on spectrum. and dealers because of higher margins. I know many retail chains are involved in it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
supernova 47 Report post Posted September 11, 2009 i think somewhere company officials are also to be blamed as manytimes they get fake sales done to inc their sales .... when govt would come up to thje extent of penalizing shopkeeper also doing fake sales along with the operator then only this would stop... National security should not be compromised at any cost but making it efficient so that it should not cause much unconv. to normal citizen should be the motto of govt Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
