Government Bans Buying Bulk Sim Cards, Also Police Verification Needed For Dealers

Aside from online fraud, cellphone number fraud is becoming increasingly common in the country. To combat this, the federal government has recently prohibited the purchasing of SIM cards in bulk. In addition, police verification has been made required for SIM card dealers. It is hoped that the government's tough stance will put a stop to the growing number of cases of fraud and keep people safe.

What did Ashwani Vaishnaw Said?

"The data and evidence we saw showed that there is complicity among dealers in cyber frauds, where attackers buy numbers in bulk, use them to call and defraud people, and quickly move on to another number," Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated. Subsequently, he emphasized that the validation process for SIM card merchants would be handled by either "the licensee" or the respective telecoms operator, with an Rs10 lakh penalty imposed on those who violated the requirements. "SIM dealers who are found to be complicit in such schemes will be fined 10 lakh," Vaishnaw stated.

Facial Biometric for KYC

The government has allowed the use of facial biometrics for e-KYC when obtaining a SIM card. You may now receive a SIM card by looking at it. Along with this, a QR code scan has been implemented to obtain basic client information so that the printed Aadhaar card is not misused. That is, instead of giving you the printed Aadhaar card, the store can now obtain all of the information by simply scanning the QR code on your Aadhaar card. If a distributor is found to be misbehaving, the government might suspend his license for three years. At the moment, merchants have 12 months to register before the government takes action against those operating illegally.