According to a recent media report citing 'officials' as sources, telecom operators are planning to disconnect approximately 1.8 million mobile connections at once as part of the government's first all-India operation to combat cybercrime and online fraud.
This development comes after a thorough investigation conducted by multiple law enforcement authorities to trace the usage of mobile networks for cybercrime and financial theft.
"During investigations, it was detected that in many instances, a single handset was used with thousands of mobile connections," an official privy to the details told the local media outlet.
On May 9, the Department of Transportation directed telcos to deactivate 28,220 mobile devices and re-verify nearly two million mobile connections that had been misused with these handsets.
Officials stated that in such cases, just 10% of the connections are verified, with the remainder being disconnected and failing re-verification. They also stated that the disconnection will take place once the telecoms completed the re-verification in 15 days. The action comes amid a consistent increase in the number of mobile phone-related cybercrimes in the country.
The National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) said that digital financial theft victims lost Rs 10,319 crore in 2023. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance said that over 694,000 complaints were received in 2023.
Officials stated that fraudsters generally employ SIM cards from other telecom circles and frequently change the combination of SIM and handset to avoid detection by law enforcement and carriers.
"For instance, an Odisha or Assam circle SIM could be used in Delhi NCR," a second official noted. "To avoid the radar, fraudsters make only a few outgoing calls and then change the SIM as too many out. going calls from the same number would get detected by telco systems.”
According to an earlier investigation, telcos disconnected almost two lakh SIM cards last year for alleged involvement in cybercrimes. In another case, the authorities investigated places such as Mewat in Haryana, and more than 37,000 SIM cards were disconnected.
Coordinated Action: To combat cybercrime, the government believes that telecoms should improve their detection of SIM usage patterns, particularly those purchased outside of home circles."As part of their roaming detection system, telcos can instantly capture when a person moves out to a different circle," added the second official.