Centre mandates police verification for SIM dealers, ceases bulk connections, KYC also must

In an effort to curb fraudulent activities, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Thursday that the government has now mandated police verification for SIM card dealers and has put an end to providing bulk connections.

"Now we have made police verification of SIM dealers mandatory to curb frauds. Penalty of Rs 10 lakh will be imposed on dealers found violating norms," Vaishnaw said. As per Vaishnaw, there are 10 lakh SIM dealers and they will be given sufficient time for police verification.

The Department of Telecommunications has also discontinued the provision of bulk connections and instead a new concept of business connection will be introduced, he said.


The minister added that both KYC of businesses, KYC of person taking handover of SIM will also be enforced.

Vaishnaw further revealed that a substantial 52 lakh mobile connections have been disconnected by the government, and around 67,000 dealers have been put on a blacklist. Alongside this, since May 2023, a total of 300 FIRs have been filed against SIM card dealers.

"WhatsApp on its own blocked around 66,000 accounts that were involved in fraudulent activities," he said.

Inputs from PTI