Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Gunga police on Saturday arrested two persons for activating fake SIM cards. The arrests are a part of Operation FACE (Facial Authentication & Compliance Enforcement), a statewide crackdown on fraudulent SIM issuance.
Police officials said the suspects used a single individual’s facial identity to issue as many as 12 SIM cards under different names and addresses. Investigations revealed that forged IDs and misused customer documents were used to activate multiple SIMs.
The action was taken based on inputs received on February 24 from the department of telecommunications (DoT), which identified suspicious cases using its AI-based facial recognition tool (ASTR). The tool flagged instances where multiple SIMs were issued against a single face.
During the probe, it was found that nine SIMs were issued by Yogesh, a resident of Gunga, while three others were activated by Javed Khan and his associate. The documents of one Abdul Faraz were allegedly misused in the process.
Police said the suspects were working as POS agents and activated nearly 250 fake SIM cards to earn incentives offered by telecom companies for higher sales.
