60% of prepaid connections in Mumbai fake

More than 60% of prepaid mobile phone connections in the city have been secured through fake documents. The figure is the result of a survey by the police.

“The results are shocking. Six in 10 of 15,000 connections surveyed had provided wrong addresses and identity details,” said Mumbai police commissioner Sanjeev Dayal.

“We have informed the concerned department to look into the case and take appropriate action. Also, the service providers have been informed about this.”

After the recent attack on foreign tourists near Jama Masjid in Delhi, the banned terror group Indian Mujahideen sent an email to media houses, which was traced to a Tata Docomo connection in Mumbai.

An investigation revealed that the number had been procured by furnishing fake documents in the name of a Borivli housewife. Investigators have not yet been able to zero in on the person who took the connection.

A senior police officer said: “Local vendors sell prepaid connections in bulk and offer discounts so that they can earn handsome commission from service providing companies. No checks are done to find out if the documents are genuine.”

Recently, the Powai police busted a bank cards racket. The police raided a garage in Kurla and recovered nearly 100 debit and credit cards, blank ration cards with stamps, voter ids, pan cards and cheque books of leading banks. Bank account numbers, mobile phone numbers and addresses of people too were found.

Last week, the police arrested two Nigerian nationals, along with five other people involved in credit card fraud. The accused had a database of several hundred people, which was being used to procure credit cards.

The police suspects five or six big gangs are involved in database dealing. The databases are sold to call centres and also to criminals.