According to a media report, the Union Ministry of Telecommunications has informed the high-level inter-ministerial council at the Centre about plans to disconnect roughly 21.7 million mobile connections that were obtained through falsified papers or are connected to criminal activities. About 226,000 mobile phones will also be blacklisted.
This information was disclosed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) at a meeting called by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) earlier this month. According to the report, senior officials from all states and Union Territories attended the meeting along with representatives from the Bureau of Immigration, Financial Intelligence Unit, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), National Investigation Agency (NIA), and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as well as security experts from other agencies.
It was reported that more than 5,000 Indians were detained against their will and forced to take part in cyber fraud, leaving them stuck in Cambodia. According to government estimates, in the six months preceding March of this year, Indians committed fraud that cost at least Rs 500 crore. The study also stated that in response to these concerns, the Centre formed the inter ministerial group to look into and pinpoint the holes that are causing these challenges, which have been discovered in the banking, immigration, and telecom sectors.
The telecoms department noted during the meeting that it has taken a number of steps to improve the efficiency of know your customer (KYC) procedures for SIM card purchases.
According to a source cited in the newspaper, the ministry is disconnecting some 21.7 million cell connections that were obtained using fraudulent or falsified documents, those that exceeded the allowed usage limits, and those that were used improperly in financial fraud or cybercrime.
International spoofed calls
Telecom companies were told by the DoT in May to stop accepting any inbound international fake calls that show Indian mobile numbers. The telecom ministry has also stated that 35% of incoming foreign calls are presently being blocked, and complete implementation is anticipated by December 31 of this year, the source continued.
The Department of Tourism (DoT) announced during the meeting that all telecom service providers (TSPs) have been instructed to submit weekly data on Indian mobile numbers roaming in countries like Hong Kong, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, and Myanmar in order to track roaming phone numbers linked to scam operations in Southeast Asia.
Between April and June of this year, more than 600,000 Indian SIM cards were reportedly “roaming” around Southeast Asia, according to the DoT. In India, these SIM cards are sold by over 140,000 point of sale (PoS) agents. Legal action against PoS agents involved in the sale of these Indian SIMs, which are purportedly utilized in scam operations throughout Southeast Asia, was advocated by authorities from all states and Union Territories.
An increase in cybercrimes targeting Indians has been identified by data analysis conducted by the MHA’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), with about 45% of these crimes having their origins in Southeast Asia. According to the report, since January 2023, the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal has received almost 100,000 cyber complaints.
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