DoT Aims To Disconnect Over 6 Lakh Mobile Connections Obtained Using Fake Documents

The Department of Telecommunications has directed the telecom service providers to reverify over 6 lakh mobile connections in the country. These identified mobile connections are suspected to have been obtained using invalid documents, fake Identity proofs and fake KYC documents. The telecommunication department has ordered all the telecom companies to complete the re-verification process within 60 days.

According to the statement released, the Department of Telecommunications has stated that they have flagged around 6.80 lakh mobile connections as potentially fake following a thorough Artificial Intelligence driven analysis. The AI analysis suggests that the KYC documents used as ID proof or address proof were fabricated for obtaining mobile connections.

The statement reads, “The use of incorrect or fake KYC documents suggests that these mobile connections were obtained fraudulently. The Department of Telecommunications has issued instructions to all the telecom service providers to re-verify the identified mobile numbers. All telecom companies must re-verify the identified mobile connections within 60 days and report accordingly. If someone fails to verify their documents, the compile connection will be terminated.”

These collaborative measures and the utilisation of AI technology are some key steps in identifying fraudulent connections to combat cyber crimes, Banking crimes, identity frauds and many more.

In April, DoT reportedly identified around 10,834 mobile numbers and asked for re-verification. Out of these, around 8,272 mobile connections were terminated. A few days ago, the department again ordered the termination of around 28,200 mobile handsets. Adding to it the DoT also instructed the telecom providers to re-verify over 20 lakh mobile numbers that are suspected to be linked with cybercrime.

According to a report by The Hindu Businessline, the Department of Telecommunication has terminated more than 1.7 crore telecom connections due to several factors including duplication of SIM cards, Fake identity proofs, and fake KYC documents. DoT further added that the problem of unsolicited commercial calls (UCC) was solved earlier with the assistance of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s Do Not Disturb (DND) registry application. In this users could activate DND for their connection which will stop commercial calls and Messages.