Executives at shops found selling SIM cards to anti-social elements with the help of forged documents

Mobile phone service providers face heat

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Mobile phone service providers face heat

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Executives at shops found selling SIM cards to anti-social elements with the help of forged documents

Ironically, a majority of the customers at these stores were anti-social elements who used the cards for nefarious activities.

Sales staff of Annapooneshwari Enterprises were caught with the booty

According to CCB officials, 90 per cent of cases investigate by them related to mobile phones are fake.

"The accused used mobile phones to intimidate and carry out their activities from inside the jail and the SIM cards are in the name of some other person," said a CCB official.

"To begin with, we have cracked down on senior sales executives Venkatesh (Airtel) and Natraj (Uninor) and they have been summoned in this regard," said Inspector Noorulla Shariff.

"We have booked cases against the service providers as it is also their responsibility to check whether the person using the mobile is has not provided forged documents," said a senior officer.

Citing a frequent example of a gym instructor who along with his associate kidnapped and murdered a doctor, the CCB officials said that when they tried to track his mobile phone details, it was found that the phone was in the name of a private firm employee.

Identity forged

After a grilling session, the CCB sleuths found that the instructor was not involved, but his identity proof had been used to get the SIM card. The officials later found the mobile store where the SIM was sold and booked the salesman for forgery.

Continuing the raids, the Fraud and Misappropriation Squad raided Hemanth Audio Point, Mahaveer Telecom on Mysore road and Annapooneshwari Enterprises in T Dasarahalli and recovered over 400 active SIM cards.

"The modus operandi is that the sales staff used to forge the identity cards of customers to activate other SIM cards which would later be sold to criminals and anti-social elements," said Shariff.u00a0

"They charged a nominal Rs 100 per card, but the damage caused to society due to this is irreparable."

The three mobile stores are very popular among the anti-social elements who usually get to buy SIM cards without producing any identity proof, he added.

Rs 100
The amount charged by the sales staff to activate unauthorised SIM cards