Bengaluru police ask DoT to permanently block SIMs of cybercriminals

The Bengaluru police have launched a novel initiative to make cybercriminals’ jobs harder, if not impossible.

They are asking the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to permanently block/deactivate SIM cards involved in cybercrimes, such as OTP fraud, sextortion, identity theft, phishing scam, financial app fraud, etc.

In a circular dated November 4, city police chief C H Pratap Reddy directed his officers to get such SIM cards blocked/deactivated permanently by the DoT.

The police would need three public complaints or an FIR against a phone number to seek its deactivation/blockage.