The government has taken decisions to make police and biometric verification of mobile SIM card dealers mandatory and discontinue the bulk connection mechanism. Briefing the media in New Delhi on Thursday, Communication Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, registration will also be compulsory for all point-of-sale dealers. He said, the steps have been taken to check the practice of cyber frauds, fraudulent calls and protect the users.

Talking about the Sanchar Sathi Portal, the Minister informed that 52 lakh fraudulent connections have been detected and deactivated and 67,000 SIM card dealers have been blacklisted. Mr. Vaishnaw said, 300 FIR have been lodged. He said, 66,000 WhatsApp accounts and 8 lakh payment wallet accounts have been blocked.