The Thane Unit of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has booked two people for misusing customer data – Aadhar details, biometrics, etc – and using them to activate SIM cards for sale in the open market.
Scammer would ask customers to enter personal details
Bhiwandi resident Ansari Abdul Rehman Mohammad Akram, a telecom workers, used his company’s point-of-sale (POS) machine, which enables vendors to make sales, accept payments and check out customers, to cheat legitimate SIM card buyers out of their data, an official said. He would ask customers to input their personal details into the machine, and claim that there had been a mistake. Mohammad Akram would take them through the process again, this time activating another SIM card, the official said.
Investigations have revealed that Mohammad Akram sold about 175 illegally activated SIMs to a friend, Saif Ali Imam Ali Ansari (25), also a Bhiwandi resident, in the past six months, the official said.
According to the police, the complainant in the case was Varsharani Ajle, sub-inspector, ATS.
The police had recently received information about a dozen fraudulently procured SIM cards, the official said. Four of those cards were registered in Bhiwandi, and they were all activated by Mohammad Akram, he said.
Unfolding the SIM card scam
“Mohammed Akram works for a telecom company and he has a registered POS machine. He also sells SIM cards in the open market. Investigations have revealed that he activated mobile numbers by misusing the identity cards and biometrics of customers without their consent,” another official said.
“Mohammad Akram would sell the cards for ₹300 each to his friend Ali Ansari, who would sell them on to those known to him,” the official said.
Case of cheating registered against duo
Mohammad Akram and Ali Ansari are under investigation. A case has been registered against the duo under Sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 417 (punishment for cheating), 418 (cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may ensue to person whose interest offender is bound to protect), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code.
