A social media post containing a notice purportedly from BSNL, stating that TRAI has suspended customers’ SIM KYC and that their SIM cards will be blocked within 24 hours, is being shared widely. The notice also provides the contact details of a KYC verification executive, urging customers to call immediately to prevent the suspension (here & here). In this article, let’s verify the authenticity of the notice.
Claim: BSNL notice about customer KYC suspension leading to SIM deactivation.
Fact: BSNL has clarified that viral notice is fake, created by miscreants to commit financial fraud. This message has been circulating on the internet for years, and the government has been continuously alerting citizens about it. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The viral message has been circulating on the internet for several years. Similar notices have been shared in various social media posts, which can be viewed here, here, and here. However, the viral notice is a fraudulent message and has not been issued by BSNL.
A Google search with relevant keywords led us to a tweet by the Delhi police in 2022, which reported a similar message in the name of MTNL as fraudulent. The Delhi police emphasized that miscreants are using MTNL’s logo and name to commit financial fraud under the guise of a KYC update to obtain confidential information. The message warns customers not to click on unverified links or download apps.
Further search led us to a tweet by the PIB, which rated the current viral message as fake. The PIB stated that these claims are false and that BSNL never sends such notices. Additionally, the PIB advised people never to share their personal and bank details with anyone.
When the same message went viral in 2021, BSNL clarified that it had no connection with this message. BSNL stated that the message was a phishing attempt and urged people to ignore it and not to share any KYC data, personal information, or bank details (here & here).
To sum up, the viral message about KYC suspension attributed to BSNL is fake.
