PIB Release-DOT PB
ASTR Tool strikes hard on fraudsters. DOT Punjab disconnected around 1.8 lakhs SIMs obtained on forged documents using ASTR.
India has witnessed a surge in the increase of cyber crime incidents in the past few years. It is seen that 14.02 Lakh cyber security incidents were reported in 2021 as compared to 11.58 Lakh such instances in 2020 to CERT-In. In most of these cases, the identity of the person is concealed and the crime is carried out by procuring SIMs on forged documents or in third party names. In order to curb such crimes and tackle this menace, DOT has developed an innovative and indigenous AI and Facial Recognition powered solution ASTR- the NextGen platform for detecting and weeding out fake/forged SIMs.
The vision of the ASTR project is to analyse the whole subscriber base of all telecom Service Providers (TSPs) combine and cleanse the mobile subscriber database by identifying non-bonafide mobile numbers. Presently, the system uses subscriber images and subscriber database provided by the Telecom Subscriber Providers (TSP) to DoT, compares the same and the output is generated in 2 categories-
1. Cases where one face has been used for subscribing more than 9 SIMs under individual category with no change in name.
2. Cases where one face has been used with multiple names.
The analysis of the ASTR results was done by DOT Punjab LSA and found that there were 14282 groups wherein one face has been used with multiple names and total 151545 subscribers were found associated with these 14282 groups. It was further observed that only 7542 POSs i.e. Point of sale/retailers were involved in the sale of total 192075 SIMs in fraudulent manner. Many PoS have provided number of SIM cards to the individuals on the same day with same photo and different names.
The total of 188460 fraudulent SIMs have been disconnected by all the Telecom Service Providers in the Punjab License Service Area.
All the fraudulent POSs involved in such fraudulent activation of SIM cards have been blacklisted by the TSPs in their network and police complaints are filed against the fraudulent POS/subscribers for using fake IDs while obtaining SIM cards. As on date, 1693 Point of Sales have been blacklisted by TSPs in their network, 69 complaints have been filed against 1248 fraudulent Point of sales in all districts of Punjab, U.T. Chandigarh and city Panchkula.
All PoS are advised to desist from fraudulent activity for sale of SIM cards as SIM card obtained in such manner may be used by Cyber fraudster and may pose threat to the National security. This activity shall be continued and would invite strict action if anyone found involved in providing SIM cards on fake documents.
