There have been widespread reports of “greedy” telecom company employees illegally using subscribers' details to issue multiple prepaid SIM cards. This has raised concerns among residents and citizens that illegal numbers are being used to commit crimes and harass and insult government employees and institutions. According to a report in Al-We'am e-paper, a Saudi citizen from Taif was shocked to find that nine prepaid mobile phone SIM cards were registered in his name without his knowledge. There have now been calls for a probe into the perceived exploitation of customers' identities. Al-We'am quoted Taif citizen Ghazi Al-Sharif as saying that he immediately filed a complaint with the authorities in Taif province which was forwarded to the headquarters of Saudi Telecom Company (STC). “I urged them to immediately disconnect these illegal numbers to avoid any further undesirable consequences if these numbers are used and exploited in evil ways”. Ghazi said he would demand compensation for any harm that may result from illegal users benefiting from his name without his knowledge. He also warned that these numbers may be used to make suspicious calls or commit crimes which would cause embarrassment and legal problems for persons whose names are associated with these numbers. The Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has been running a campaign urging customers to update their data with their coverage providers. It has urged customers not to buy out-of-date SIM cards and warned all those who sell, buy or use illegal numbers that they will be subject to sanctions. The CITC also recently launched a new SMS service for checking prepaid numbers. STC subscribers can text “9988” to the “902” service number, Zain subscribers can send a blank text to “700123” and Mobily subscribers can send a text to “616166”. The Saudi Gazette was told by an STC employee that the company's management has responded to customers' complaints. He explained that some dishonest staff, trying to achieve monthly sales targets, were using photocopies of customers' ID cards to sell more prepaid SIM cards to other customers. “Our management has dealt firmly with such rare cases and has forced the employees to shoulder all the financial consequences of such illegal conduct,” he said. A Zain employee said he heard of a few cases where customers got prepaid numbers from other distributors and telecommunication shops. He attributed the problem to shops keeping a copy of customers' identity documents and exploiting them by issuing many numbers to unknown people. A shop assistant at Mobily said the problem of illegal numbers has been brought under control. “We had a few cases like this but fortunately our management found the loophole in the system and axed some workers indulging in illegal acts,” he said. One customer told the Saudi Gazette that he was shocked by a recent bill which showed six numbers registered in his name. He instantly filed an official complaint with the customer service management and forwarded a copy to the CITC. He said these illegal numbers may be used to commit crimes and then discarded, leaving no trace of the criminals. “Another negative use of illegal numbers is disrespecting government institutions by calling them and using inappropriate language and obscene words. “I remember one person who called the Civil Defense 10 times and falsely reported fires in some areas,” he said. Telecommunications shop owner Mazen Khaldi said the blame lies with “greedy employees” of authorized distributors of SIM cards. “A crooked employee can make twice his salary if he issues 1,000 SIM cards monthly at a cost of SR20 per card,” he said. He also blamed the lenient policies of telecom companies and service providers and the lack of commitment to CITC regulations. “Unfortunately the brutal competition among providers to luresubscribers has led to the issue of numbers without authentication of names and identities. Moreover, lack of deterrent penalties which are supposed to be imposed by the provider companies against violating staff members has made this illegal act more frequent,” he said. __
