In Bid to Tame 'Phonies' & Cyber Crooks, Govt Flooded with Phone Disconnection Gripes from Genuine Users

Facing complaints from multiple genuine subscribers whose mobile phone numbers get disconnected, the government has decided to step in.

The Department of Telecommunication has been flooded with complaints from genuine subscribers whose numbers were blocked without any intimation.

While states are saying that they are following instructions from the Centre, union ministries claim that states are not properly verifying numbers before placing the requests.

According to an official communication accessed by News18, the ministry of home affairs had issued instructions to all DGPs/CPs of states/union territories to use the provisions of re-verification instructions last year to immediately block phone connections involved in committing cybercrimes duly certified by SP/DCP level officers dealing with the subject. This was to curb cyber fraud increasing every year.

The decision was also for the connections determined to have been obtained on fraudulent credentials and/or bogus proof of identity/address after analysis of details including photographs of the customers or other parameters during investigation or receipt of complaints.

But the Department of Telecommunication has been overloaded with complaints where genuine subscribers have raised the issue of disconnection of their numbers during the process of curbing cyber fraud.

“Complaints have been received from genuine subscribers and have requested for reconnection of mobile numbers within the 90 days period before the numbers are available for re-allocation,” the department said.

When News18 spoke to various officials in union ministries as well as the superintendent and deputy commissioner of police-level officers handling cybercrime cases, it was found that all such frauds were being done through wrongly obtained SIMs, and genuine subscribers were trapped during the process of blocking those numbers.

“There have been multiple reasons why genuine subscribers are suffering. One of the main reasons is that their proof of address or identity was misused. Also, photos were used to obtain SIM cards by crooks. In case any number comes under scrutiny, the system checks photo and identity proofs, etc, and if more numbers are running on one photo, identity, etc, it comes under scrutiny and faces disconnection. Sometimes it also disconnects the numbers of genuine subscribers who are using genuine documents,” a senior official working in the security assurance wing in DoT told News18.

Similarly, when News18 spoke to an SP-level officer working in Madhya Pradesh Police, he said that sometimes investigating officers (IOs) prepare a list of numbers and, with a lack of individual verification, genuine subscribers also face the heat.

“A district head is responsible for raising a request for disconnection. But, every district head gets multiple requests and practically it is tough to verify each one as multiple agencies are involved. IOs also during scrutiny just ask for data based on identity or address proof, or photos. When the system shows the list of connections running on those numbers, the IO raises a request to block all of them,” the officer said.

Similarly, in Jharkhand, which is famous as a hub of cyber frauds, cops said that identifying genuine subscribers is tough.

“We get requests from different states and the public that numbers are used to commit fraud with someone. When we check the details, we find that these SIM cards are obtained through fake documents. When we raise a request to block them as per the instructions, it is not possible to identify genuine subscribers who may be sitting in some other states,” a cybercrime wing officer of the state said.

There have been instances where one identity or photo was used to obtain dozens of SIMs.

New process

Now, understanding the gravity of the matter, it has been decided by the government of India that any genuine subscriber who has been trapped and facing disconnection can approach the service provider with the original document and get the KYC process done.

The idea behind this step is that only genuine subscribers will come forward for reconnection.

What data shows

According to DoT’s data, West Bengal had the largest number of SIMs disconnected (12,34,111), followed by Haryana (5,24,287), Bihar-including Jharkhand (3,27,246), Madhya Pradesh (2,28,072), and Uttar Pradesh-East (2,04,658).

Such actions of disconnection were also taken in other states like Gujarat, Assam, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. The lowest number of cases of disconnecting SIMs has been registered in Himachal Pradesh, at 3,491.