BENGALURU: Your identity proof may have been used many times, by a few mobile service centres, to sell SIM cards to other customers. This illegal trade is highly profitable and flourishing in the city.
The seller makes a killing, with the commission from the telecom company for every SIM card sold, and there are many buyers who do not have proper documents.
The police have arrested four people and have seized 500 SIM cards and more than 500 copies of fake identity proofs in Sai Nagar.
The arrested have been identified as Mohammed Ismail (43) and Mohammed Jaffar (38) from Sai Nagar, Chandrashekar (41) from T Dasarahalli and Vasu (19) from Yelahanka.
A police official said, “The accused were operating a mobile sales and service centre near Sambhrama College in Vidyaranyapura.”
They have been accused of using photographs and documents given by customers to issue SIM cards to others. This way, they could also claim the commission given by telecom companies — `10 per card. The police say that they have issued 4-10 cards for every set of documents.
Stiff competition between service providers is also to blame, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) R Ramesh.
“The rules and regulations of TRAI have been flouted. Issue of SIM cards with fake ID papers have affected police investigation several times,” he said.
There are over 12,000 SIM cards issued for false documents in the city.
As of now, as TRAI laws say, “A person interested in getting any of these services has to approach the service provider of his choice or its authorised sales outlets and submit an application form, generally known as the Customer Acquisition Form (CAF), along with photographs and proof establishing address and identity.”
Police have registered a case under IPC 465 (punishment for forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property).