Telecom companies are set to simultaneously deactivate about 1.8 million mobile connections. Officials state that the Central Government is disconnecting these SIM cards to combat cyber criminals involved in illegal activities. Law enforcement agencies conducted thorough investigations to identify these numbers, which are linked to cybercrime and financial fraud. According to The Economic Times, during the investigation, it was discovered that in many cases, thousands of SIM cards were used in a single handset. On May 9, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) instructed telecom companies to disconnect 28,220 mobile numbers and to check over 2 million connections associated with such handsets.
An official quoted by The Economic Times mentioned, “Typically, we find that only 10 percent of these connections are verified, while the remaining are disconnected due to failure in the reverification process.” The disconnection process will commence once the reverification is completed in a few days. This action is a response to the rising number of crimes committed via mobile phones across the country. The National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) reported that in 2023, digital financial fraud resulted in a loss of Rs 10,139 crore for the citizens. A parliamentary standing committee on finance noted that over 694,000 complaints related to digital fraud were received in 2023.
