India: 28,200 mobiles suspected of being used in cyber fraud blocked

India: 28,200 mobiles suspected of being used in cyber fraud blocked
New Delhi: Attempting to stop ever-growing cases of cyber fraud in which citizens are losing hard-earned money, the Department of Telecom on Friday said directions have been issued to block 28,200 mobile handsets and immediate re-verification of 20 lakh mobile connections linked to these mobile handsets has been ordered.

Failing re-verification of identity, the SIM card will be disconnected. Mobile handsets are blocked on the basis of their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number that is unique to each handset.

Telecom service providers have been asked to ensure a pan-India block on these 28,200 mobile handsets and to carryout immediate re-verification of 20 lakh mobile connections linked to these mobile handsets, the DoT said adding that these SIM cards would be disconnected if re-verification failed. An analysis was carried out by Ministry of Home Affairs and State Police forces that identified these 28,200 mobile handsets were misused in cybercrimes. The DoT further analysed and found that a staggering 20 lakh numbers were used with these mobile handsets.

This is not the first such instance of the DoT stepping in. The Lok Sabha was informed on February 6 this year that the government had blocked 3,20,000 SIM cards and 49,000 International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers reported by the police.

A total of 13 lakh cases of financial cyber fraud were reported in 2023, according to a Lok Sabha reply on February 6.

The ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’ had been set up under the ‘Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’ by the Ministry of Home Affairs to report financial fraud.

A 2023 report by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre revealed that digital financial frauds accounted for a staggering Rs 1.25 lakh crore over the last three years. According to the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), in 2023, at least Rs 10,319 crore was reported to be lost by victims of digital financial fraud.

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