This Is Why Vi Is Blocking 8,000 SIM Cards

The Madhya Pradesh cyber police have directed various telecom companies to block SIM cards issued on fake identity proofs, following which Vi (erstwhile Vodafone Idea) has blocked nearly 8,000 SIM cards, a senior official said on Tuesday. Acting on the complaint of a person who was allegedly duped of Rs 1.75 lakh after being lured to buy a car through an advertisement on Facebook in 2020, the cyber cell’s Gwalior unit began an investigation and found the number used by fraudsters to cheat the complainant was issued on a different person’s identity.

“The number used by the fraudsters was issued by a telecom company on the basis of an identity document of a different person. Later, eight people were found to be involved in issuing the SIM card to those involved in the crime, Gwalior cyber zone Superintendent of Police Sudhir Agrawal said. After an extensive investigation into the matter, the cyber police also found that the fraudsters allegedly used 20,000 different numbers to dupe people by calling them using these SIM cards,” he said.