Buying a secondhand hand phone? Stop! Make sure you do this first
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has introduced the Sanchar Saathi portal, enabling individuals to block and track their lost or stolen mobile phones throughout India. Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that the portal would facilitate blocking, tracking, and verification of used devices before purchase.
The first component of the Sanchar Saathi portal is the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR). If a mobile phone is lost, individuals can visit the portal, complete an identity verification process, provide an undertaking, and promptly interact with law enforcement agencies and telecom service providers to block the lost device.
Sanchar Saathi offers a "Know Your Mobile" feature that allows users to verify the authenticity of second-hand mobile phones before purchase. Vaishnaw expressed confidence that these reforms would significantly reduce the growing trends in cyber fraud.
In response to inquiries about countering fraud via WhatsApp calls, the minister said that Meta-owned apps, including WhatsApp, have agreed to deactivate services associated with any mobile number involved in fraudulent activities.
The minister revealed that 3.6 million mobile connections had been terminated for fraud, with the corresponding WhatsApp accounts blocked.
Sanchar Saathi also incorporates the TAFCO facility, enabling people to verify if unauthorised mobile numbers are registered under their name without their knowledge or consent. The portal's functionalities have been developed by C-DoT, the technology development arm of the Department of Telecom. C-DoT has successfully added features to detect cloned mobile phones across all telecom networks.
To prevent the entry of unauthorised mobile phones, the government has mandated
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