Bengaluru: Airtel sniffs SIM-swap racket; lens on insiders

BENGALURU: A major SIM-swapping racket allegedly involving insiders and fake Aadhaar cards to hijack customers’ premium numbers and commit online banking frauds has come to light at telecom major Airtel.
In a complaint to Cyber Crime Police, CID, Bengaluru, Airtel listed 18 mobile numbers where SIM cards were swapped by its retail agents using forged Aadhaar papers from January 1 to September 19 this year. Police, however, said the scam might involve thousands of numbers where duplicate SIM cards were acquired by furnishing forged identities and address-proof documents, a device increasingly being used by fraudsters. When contacted by TOI, Airtel declined to react.
“It has come to Airtel’s notice that the Point of Sale have (sic) involved in fraudulent SIM swap of the mobile numbers by forging Proof of Address/Proof of Identity documents of the original customers…” says the complaint filed by Stanely Agenlo, head of facilities, Bharti Airtel, on September 19. TOI has accessed a copy of the complaint.
Sim fraudsters targeted customers with fancy phone numbers: Airtel