Daijiworld Media Network – Kolkata

Kolkata, Mar1: Security agencies are facing a growing challenge as cross-border criminals along India’s Bangladesh border, particularly in Murshidabad district, exploit forged Indian identity documents to acquire mobile SIM cards.

According to state police sources, these pre-activated SIM cards are obtained through two primary methods. In the first, criminals create fake identities to secure SIM cards under non-existent names. The second method is even more concerning—SIM cards are registered under the names of real individuals who remain unaware that their credentials are being misused.

Nearly 99% of such cases involve individuals whose identities are stolen without their knowledge. These fraudulent SIMs are often sold to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants during their stay in border villages before they acquire fake Indian identity documents.

A major factor enabling this fraud is the involvement of corrupt mobile service dealers. When genuine customers purchase a SIM card, these dealers retain extra copies of their identity documents. Using these, they activate additional SIM cards in the customer’s name and sell them at higher prices to criminals.

In many instances, customers unknowingly provide multiple biometric scans, allowing dealers to clone their credentials and issue multiple SIM cards under the same name.

This growing misuse of SIM cards has raised serious security concerns, prompting authorities to tighten regulations and crack down on fraudulent mobile service providers.