Telecom
The SIM that stops working
अचानक बंद हुआ सिम
Your phone loses network for a few hours. By the time it returns, the OTPs have already been used.
- Who it is aimed at
- People whose identity details have leaked elsewhere: a data breach, a KYC photocopy, a courier form.
- How fast it moves
- A few hours of no signal
What they say
Reconstructed from reported complaints. The wording changes; the sequence does not.
“This is your operator. Press 1 to upgrade your SIM to 5G.”
“Forward this 20-digit number from your SIM to us to complete the upgrade.”
How it runs
- 01Your details are used to request a duplicate SIM from the operator
- 02Sometimes you are called and asked to forward the SIM's 20-digit number
- 03Your SIM goes dead, which looks like an ordinary network problem
- 04Every OTP now arrives on their handset instead of yours
The tell
A SIM that dies without reason, especially at night or over a weekend, is an emergency and not a network issue.
If this happened to you
Call the operator from another phone at once, then your bank. Check every SIM registered against your name on Sanchar Saathi's TAFCOP.
If money left an account in the last few hours, call 1930 before anything else.
What the government calls this
The complaint form asks you to pick a category. This is the one it means.
- SIM Swap Scam
- Impersonation and Identity Theft