Shady trade over mobile SIM
A large number of pre-activated SIMs -- registered biometrically with duplicate fingerprints and national identity cards -- are streaming into the market for open sale, say industry insiders.
The people whose fingerprints and NID cards were copied by errant and unscrupulous retailers are unaware of it.
All these pre-activated SIMs have been on sale for high prices -- up to Tk 1,000 each -- after the deadline for biometric re-registration and authentication expired on May 31.
The surreptitiously re-registered SIMs are found in parts of the capital as well as in district towns. Salesmen are often seen trying to get customers for these SIMs in the city's Motijheel, Nilkhet and Mirpur-10 areas.
Some mobile phone users who fell victim to forgery are now panicking.
Kohinur Begum, a housewife from the capital's Manda area, went to a nearby retail shop to get a new cell phone connection using her NID card early this year.
She was in utter shock to learn that at least 10 SIM cards had already been registered with her biometric fingerprints and NID card.
Kohinur told this correspondent that she had no clue that her fingerprints had been copied several times.
“The retailer told me that my fingerprints couldn't be matched with the one on the NID database even after several attempts,” she said.
Kohinur is just one of the many victims of this clandestine and unlawful practice.
Rifat Ara Shova, a lecturer at a private university in the capital, recently came to know that at least one more Airtel SIM had been registered with duplicate copies of her fingerprints and NID card without her knowledge. She had applied for biometric registration of only one Airtel SIM.
“Someone duplicated my fingerprints for registering an Airtel SIM. That is in addition to my personal SIM. Now, I am scared,” she said.
Against every finger impression, the retailer is supposed to register only one new SIM, say industry insiders.
A dishonest retailer can surreptitiously register a new SIM against every fingerprint of a customer by showing that the attempt to complete biometric registration has failed.
If Kohinur, for example, swiped her finger five times on the registration device, it means four new SIMs could be registered against her name in addition to her personal SIM.
The 10 new connections registered with her duplicate fingerprints and NID card are active numbers: 01993256465-74.
Contacted, Banglalink, the country's second largest mobile phone operator, confirmed that the SIMs appear registered on its system.
This correspondent recently bought two SIMs -- one of Grameenphone and the other of Banglalink -- from a shop near Dhaka Stock Exchange building in Motijheel area for Tk 200 each and found both the numbers active.
The Grameenphone SIM bearing the number 01743173903 had a balance of Tk 58.
The correspondent made calls to Grameenphone's senior executives, seeking clarifications.
According to Grameenphone, following the completion of the biometric registration process, all the SIMs that are now active had already been registered.
Grameenphone doesn't supply pre-activated SIMs to distributors or retailers, said Syed Talat Kamal, the company's deputy director of communications.
“If active SIMs are being sold in the market, it means retailers have somehow registered it through illegal methods. Grameenphone does not condone such activities. It takes action against errant retailers whenever identified,” said Kamal.
The Banglalink SIM bought by this correspondent bears the number 01993256466 and had a balance of Tk 26.
Banglalink told this correspondent that it found various fraudulent activities and would cancel distributorship if retailers or distributors are found guilty.
“The good thing is this type of malpractice [sale of pre-activated SIMs] can be easily detected now as the retailers can be identified through biometric devices [fingerprint scanners],” said Taimur Rahman, chief corporate and regulatory affairs officer at Banglalink.
In line with a directive of the telecom regulator, Banglalink has made sure that connections are verified biometrically, he said.
Seeking anonymity, a Banglalink official said the operator had severed business relations with 70 retailers.
Banglalink has recently taken an initiative to inform its clients about their registered SIMs. Any Banglalink user can dial *1600# to know how many SIMs were registered against his or her NID card.
The issue of illegally registered SIMs came to the fore after 21 people, including three staff of Airtel, were arrested on Tuesday in connection with sale of several thousand pre-activated Airtel SIMs.
Following the arrests, many users voiced concern about the security of their personal data and information, and made calls to cell phone operators to convey their worries.
Under the biometric re-registration process, 11.7 crore SIMs were registered by May 31, but sector leaders said seven to eight crore SIM users are active.
Tarana Halim, state minister for telecommunications, said she was aware of the customers' concern, and that they had already gathered necessary information to trace the illegally registered SIMs.
She also said they were taking an initiative to send the customers via SMS the numbers of SIMs re-registered against their NID cards.
This SMS service would start next week.
The Telecom Division would launch a special drive next week to trace illegally registered SIMs, said Tarana.
“Operators will be fined $50 for each illegal SIM card.
“Sometimes people were a bit careless while getting their SIMs re-registered, and dishonest retailers took advantage of it,” she said yesterday.
“Within a short time, we will start a process of informing mobile users about their SIMs and NID status. A customer then can easily find out how many SIMs have been registered against his or her NID card. And the user will be able to immediately deactivate the unwanted SIMs.”
The minister said she held a meeting with mobile phone operators yesterday and asked them to take immediate steps to deal with the situation.
Earlier, several media outlets ran reports that people in Magura town could easily buy as many biometrically re-registered SIMs as they want for only Tk 200-300 each.
On the issue, Abu Saeed Khan, senior policy fellow of Colombo-based think tank LIRNEasia, said it reflected total inefficiency of mobile phone operators.
“Operators are fully responsible for this. It happened because of their carelessness. The government should immediately include a provision in the telecom law for handing down punishment to the culprits,” said Saeed, also former general secretary of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh.
He said there is no data or information protection act in the country. It means if anyone's data is stolen, he or she cannot do anything about it.
“Both the government and the private sector are exploiting this situation,” added Saeed.
ARRESTEES TO BE QUIZZED
A Dhaka court yesterday permitted the investigators to interrogate at jail gate eight persons, including three Airtel staffs, arrested on charge of selling pre-activated and illegally registered Airtel SIM cards.
The court of Metropolitan Magistrate Khurshid Alam passed the order after turning down the police plea for placing the arrestees on seven days remand, said court sources.
The eight are Momin Mia, Shafiqul Islam, Wahid, Nurul Amin, Al Amin, Nayeem, Safayet and Al Amin. A case was filed against them under Bangladesh Telecommunication Act 2001 with Adabor Police Station yesterday.
On Tuesday, law enforcers arrested 21 people, including the eight, from the capital's Adabor and Mohammadpur areas.
Of the arrestees, 13 were released as their involvement in the crime was not found initially, said Sheikh Shahinur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Adabor Police Station.
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