Reliance Jio SIM cards have been available freely and without hassles for a while now. But a group of six people were arrested in Indore by the police on Friday for selling Jio SIM cards without documents at a premium price.
Customers need not pay anything to get a Jio SIM card. Simply by submitting the eKYC documents and verifying through Aadhaar and fingerprint scans, one can get an active Jio SIM card with Happy New Year offer valid till March 31, 2017. Under the offer, users get unlimited data and voice calling service for free.
The accused have used this authentication process to activate more than one SIM card using a genuine customer's details and thumb prints. These SIM cards were being sold for anywhere between Rs 100 and Rs 1,000, and the price is generally for not having to submit any documents.
According to a PTI report, the police seized 346 Jio SIM cards, 14 pre-activated SIMs, and four thumb impression machines, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Amrendra Singh said.
"The accused used to collect more than one thumb impression of the customer on the impression machine and give him/her one free SIM. At the same time, they would get second SIM activated using the same persons thumb impression which they have taken deceptively," Singh added.
The six individuals arrested in Indore are identified as Ram Hemnani (27), Neeraj Nandlal (23), Deep Badhwani (26), Sunil Chouhan (28), Ranjeet Singh Bhati (24) and Praveen Rathore (22). The police is also investigating any role of local representatives of Reliance Jio.
What should customers do to prevent such scams?
First of all, customers must know that Jio SIM cards are available free of cost, so paying any premium is unnecessary. Secondly, the eKYC verification is quite simple. By registering thumb impression and submitting details of Aadhaar, one can activate a Jio SIM card in a matter of few minutes. Once the registration is complete, do not provide your thumb impression or Aadhaar details unless there was an error during the activation, which is rarely the case.
By obtaining a SIM card without submitting documents, there is scope for criminal activities that can be carried out without leaving a trace back to the criminal.
