The police has warned against rising instances of SIM card frauds where prepaid cards are issued without verifying documents, landing unsuspecting citizens in trouble with the police. This is in light of another scam being busted by the Kurla police where two executives from a leading mobile company were arrested last week. A similar scam was busted by the Dharavi police in late May.
Late in June, the Kurla police arrested three persons, of which two were employed with leading telecom company BPL for issuing SIM cards by accepting fake documents. The accused also made several photocopies of documents belonging to legitimate applicants and procured multiple SIM cards from the company headquarters. The cards were then given to people desirous of owning a SIM card, but lacked necessary documentation.
“We seized 150 SIM cards following a tip-off from an informant. Assistant manager Harish Bhola Chauhan (24), back office employee Janardhan Jadhav (28), salesman Rupesh Pawar (22) and distributor Santosh Singh (33) were arrested,” said PSI Tukaram Koyende from Kurla police station. Singh ran Manisha Enterprises, a distributing agency, which tapped people lacking documentation and promised them SIM cards. Pawar was in-charge of maintaining and compiling customer data and entering information into firm records.
“The accused in this case did not superimpose photocopies of documents of legal applicants. They simply made multiple photocopies and made applications using the same paperwork. The company did not suspect that a single customer was applying for so many SIM cards and turned a blind eye. This is how cards land into the hands of anti-social and terror elements,” explained Mr Koyende.