[1]Jagatham, a fish vendor from Kumbalangi, is hardly able to send a message or make a call from her mobile phone, but on Saturday she was questioned by a Central Telec-om Enforcement team for possessing 25 SIM cards.
It has now turned out the SIM cards were taken by fraudsters using a copy of Jagatham’s voter ID card without her permission or knowledge. All they did was change the photograph on a copy of her ID card, say telecom sources.
The SIM cards in question were issued by Airtel, but of the 25 only one is in use and the rest have been cancelled, according to them.
The one number in use has been traced to a housewife in Kollam. Once alerted about the scam by the telecom sleuths, Jagatham proceeded to lodge a police complaint and the police and the telecom enforcement team are now investigating how her ID could have been misused and by whom.
Jagadam has told the police that her son gifted her the mobile phone and she got a SIM card for it using her voter ID.
The police suspect that her ID was copied by a fraudster from the mobile shop she went to. The case is not being treated lightly as the police believe such operations can be orchestrated by terror outfits and are concerned as the telecom enforcement department recently found that numerous fake SIM cards were being issued in Kerala using ID cards of people without their permission or knowledge.
Links:
[1] http://103.241.136.51/jagathajpgcropdisplayjpg-192