To stop unwanted calls and cyber fraud, the Telecom Department has changed the guidelines for bulk SIM cards.
Earlier, new bulk SIMs could be issued through retailers, but now only the telecom company will be allowed to issue such connections. This will help a lot in preventing cyber fraud and unwanted calls.
According to the new rule, the company will issue only 100 SIM cards at a time. SIM cards will not be issued for machine to machine communication. Before issuing a new SIM, the company will have to first do physical verification of the buyer’s address. Apart from this, the company which will issue SIM cards will have to take an affidavit from the customer that these SIM cards will not be misused.
Also Read: RBI warns against investing in crypto, Cryptocurrency encourages speculation: RBI Bulletin
New number series released
The Department of Telecommunications and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) have jointly released a new mobile number series. Under this, voice calling messages for promotion will come from 140 mobile number series, while financial transactions and service voice calls will come from 160 number series.
It is expected that in the coming days, these number series will be implemented across the country by telecom operators Jio, Airtel and Vodafone-Idea, after which promotional and banking messages will be issued from these two mobile number series. This will enable customers to identify which are the promotional and banking messages. The government believes that this will help in preventing mobile fraud.
Flood of phishing messages in India
If reports are to be believed, there is a flood of fake and promotional calls and messages in India. Every mobile user receives about 20 to 25 promotional calls and messages in a day. If statistics are to be believed, hundreds of phishing messages are sent to mobile customers in India every month. One out of every 12 people falls prey to phishing every month. About 3,00,000 people fall prey to fraud, but only 35,000-45,000 people report these incidents.
