An Indian tourist could not believe his eyes when at Nathu La Pass, which is one of the three open trading border posts between China and , he got a message on his Airtel mobile number, ‘Welcome to China’, urging him to activate international roaming, even though there was no signal on his phone. That’s not all. Neither of his two other friends who were with him received this message; they did not use Airtel.

Cold shivers ran down his spine when six hours later he got another message: "Have you activated international roaming yet? To start, SMS IR999 to 121. Valid on China Mobile network.”

The identity of the person has been kept hidden on his request.

Here’s what he shared with Daily Bhaskar: "We three friends were on a holiday in Sikkim. As we neared Nathula Pass -- which is a three-hour drive from Gangtok, and lies on the border between and China -- the air became thinner and the weather chillier due to the buffeting winds. I was aching to make a call home and describe the beauty of the place, but there was no signal on my mobile phone.”

“

Then I got this SMS from Airtel -- 'Welcome to China', urging me to activate international roaming. My first reaction was, 'Who has hacked into the Airtel network?' Neither of my friends uses Airtel and they did not get this message. Then six hours later, I got another message that asked, "Have you activated international roaming yet?... To start, SMS IR999 to 121. Valid on China Mobile network'. Then a third message came in, saying the same thing. The phone signal itself was silent, except for these incoming messages. It was a strange feeling up there in the cold."

Click next to read more