Prepaid SIM Card

 

Prepaid SIM Card

 Avni came home after college. That was quite a day for her. Lectures, practical, library sessions one after the other. Freshened up, after eating a little, she picked up her mobile phone. Just two days ago, she bought a Aircel prepaid SIM for her mobile phone with dual SIM card system. She was happy to get good internet speed.

 As soon as her phone rang, Avni, who was surfing on WhatsApp and Instagram, came to her senses. There was a call to the new number. An unknown number flashed on her screen. She received the call. 

"Hello..."

"Refund the money withdrawn from my account ASAP, otherwise the result will be bad. I’m telling you"

"Hello. Who do you want to talk to? Perhaps you have a wrong number."

"It's the number 8763×××××× isn't it?"

"Yeah, the number is right."

"Six-seven months back, you called from this number and asked for my ATM card number and PIN and withdrew money from my account. I was half asleep so made a mistake and told you the card number and PIN."

"But I got this number just yesterday..."

"Hey! Don't play with me. Let me know when are you going to return my money. I'm tired of visiting the police again and again.”

The man on the other side disconnected the call.

Avni was confused.

"What the hell is this?"

She said to herself.

For a while, she kept thinking about that phone call. But because of her busy schedule, she soon forgot about it.

However, when similar calls started coming every two or three days, she was worried. Sometimes it was the same man, sometimes it would be a woman. Calls were coming in from different numbers. She blocked the numbers on Truecaller. But if one number was blocked, the call would come from another number. The tone of all incoming calls was the same. “You took our card details and withdrew money.” or “You hacked our account and emptied it.”

Avni realized that the number given to her must have belonged to a cyber thief. She must have got it recycled because it had been already surrendered or not recharged at all. Tired, she finally decided to surrender the SIM card. On the same day, she received an envelope through speed post. It came from Lucknow police headquarters.

Someone had lodged a complaint against her with the Lucknow police on the basis of her mobile phone number. The police had summoned her and asked her to appear in person or give a satisfactory answer. Avni was scared. Until now, she had not told her parents about this. But now she had to take help of her father to solve this issue.

When her dad came back from office, she told him the whole story since the first call. After knowing everything, Dad reassured her and called his lawyer friend to consult.

 As per the lawyer’s advice, the next day, Avni and her dad went to the mobile gallery from where she had taken the prepaid SIM card. From there, he got the activation certificate in her name since she got the prepaid SIM card.

Normally when a prepaid SIM card user stops using the SIM card without recharging, any mobile company will give that number to another customer after six months.

“On whose name was this number six months ago? Were there any inquiries or complaints about him in the company's call centre?” Avni's dad asked the mobile company to provide all the information.

Despite the delay, the mobile company sent them all the information through E-mail. According to that information, till six-seven months ago, the number was in the name of Santosh Yadav from Jamtara in Jharkhand. That number was questioned a lot of times in the mobile company's call centre.

 Avni sent a copy of the activation certificate obtained from the mobile company and the E-mail from the mobile company containing all the information in reply to the summons from the Lucknow Police Headquarters. Avni's dad lodged a complaint with the consumer forum against the mobile company for giving her a SIM card with a controversial number.

 It is true that Avni escaped from this crisis. But considering the trouble caused to her and her family, the consumer court ordered the mobile company to compensate Avni and her family for the inconvenience.

 

                                  (Based on a true incident)

 

Dear reader,

Although such incidents are rare, they are more likely to occur in the case of prepaid SIM cards than post-paid ones. There are a few things to keep in mind.

 -Do not change mobile number as far as possible without a reason. Instead, use portability if you have complaints about services or speed.

-If you get a new number, if possible, find the old owner of that number from Truecaller or the mobile service provider's app.

-Prepaid or post-paid activation certificate must be obtained from the dealer while getting the SIM card.

-If there is any objection or doubt about the calls received on the newly taken number, the old user information should be taken from the mobile company under RTI (Right to Information).

 

Stay alert and secure and enjoy the technology.

 

©Kavita Datar