SIM card dealers will now have to go through police verification. Here’s why

The government on Thursday has made the police verification of the SIM card dealers mandatory and in addition to this, the bulk sale of the connections have also been discontinued to curb fraudulent activities.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the government has detected and identified 52 lakhs mobile connection which are fraudulently obtained. Moreover, 67,000 dealers have been blacklisted, 300 FIRs have been filed against SIM card dealers since May 2023.

Apart from this, WhatsApp also own its own has deactivated 66,000 accounts which were involved in illegal activities.

The minister informed that there are almost 10 lakh SIM card dealers and they will be given sufficient time for the police verification.

“Now we have made police verification of SIM dealers mandatory to curb frauds. Penalty of Rs 10 lakh will be imposed on dealers found violating norms,” Vaishnaw said. “Besides, KYC of businesses, KYC of person taking handover of SIM will also be done,” he added.

Beside this, the Department of Telecommunications will soon introduce a new concept of business connection which will help people.