Government makes biometric verification of mobile SIM card dealers mandatory and discontinues bulk connection mechanisms

New Delhi: The government has taken decisions to make biometric verification of mobile SIM card dealers mandatory and discontinue the bulk connection mechanism.

Briefing the media in New Delhi , Communication Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, registration will also be compulsory for all point-of-sale dealers. He said, the steps have been taken to check the practice of cyber frauds, fraudulent calls and protect the users.

Talking about the Sanchar Sathi Portal, the Minister informed that 52 lakh fraudulent connections have been



detected and deactivated and 67 thousand SIM card dealers have been blacklisted. Mr. Vaishnaw said, 300 FIR have been lodged. He said, 66 thousand whatsapp accounts and eight lakh payment wallet accounts have been blocked.

According to the new initiative, if a Point of Sale indulges in any illegal activities, it will be terminated and blacklisted for a period of 03 years. To prevent misuse of printed Aadhaar, the demographic details will mandatorily be captured by scanning QR code of printed Aadhaar.