The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has blocked 16,332 SIMs and 14,468 IMEIs involved in fraudulent activities, during the last year.
According to documents available to Propakistani, from July 2021 to June 2022, PTA issued warning to 77,602 mobile numbers whereas 1027 CNICs involved in illegal activities have been blocked or blacklisted.
PTA received more than 38 thousand requests for blocking or unblocking stolen mobile phones on the new automated system LSDS during the last year. According to the document, PTA received 36,191 blocking requests for lost or stolen mobile phones from July 2021 to June 2022. PTA also received 2729 requests for unblocking stolen or lost cell phones, during the same period. According to PTA, all blocking or unblocking requests by consumers have been approved within 24 hours.
According to PTA, if its system identifies IMEIs or Mobile Numbers involved in fraudulent activities, they are immediately blocked. Not only the SIMs and IMEIs are blocked, but the identity cards involved in such fraud are issued warnings. Upon repeated violation for a second time, the CNICs of fraudsters get highlighted by the system and accordingly CNIC is blacklisted for a mobile subscription.
According to PTA officials, PTA is working with the National Advanced Database Regulatory Authority (NADRA) on a live finger detection project to prevent the issuance of fake SIMs using stolen thumb impressions. An LFD device accurately checks whether a fingerprint is real and taken from an individual present at the point of capture or fake and taken through illegal means.
