Express News Service

KOCHI: Vexed by unsolicited calls or sexually explicit texts at unearthly hours? A word of caution. Next time you rattle off your mobile number at a recharge outlet for a quick top up or jot down your personal details on a SIM card application, remember, your number is now at the mercy of phone stalkers.



This was revealed in an ‘Express’ inquiry done in the wake of recent media reports that phone numbers of girls were being sold through recharge shops in Uttar Pradesh. But unlike in UP, in Kerala, it’s largely a close-knit affair. The agents indulge in such brash ‘identity theft’ for the kick of it!



For the knave retail agents who admitted to have passed on numbers of women, it’s just a way to ‘impress their friends’. “I share numbers of girls via WhatsApp to only my close friends so they can have ‘some fun’. If they forwarded it to someone, you can’t blame me,” says Sebastian (name changed), 22, a degree student who works part time at a mobile retail shop.

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The modus operandi of these unethical retail owners is simple. They sift the numbers according to name and age before circulating them as chain messages via WhatsApp or passing them among their acquaintances. The racket mainly sieves details from SIM card applications of girls or saves their numbers while they visit a retail shop for a mobile recharge.

“It’s a clear case of identity theft,” says ADGP (Crime) Nitin Agarwal. “It’s not just the numbers, there are cases where these unscrupulous agents use the address, PAN card details and other vital information to their advantage or to exploit or harass women.”

It’s a grave issue. Identity theft should be made an offence. We need a separate legislation to deal with such crimes, he says. Candid about their brazen act, most stalkers we spoke to struck a common defence.



“Many girls do play along. Some come upfront and say a no to my face. I don’t bother them thereafter. The question of harassment doesn’t even arise,” says a 25-year-old cabbie based in Thiruvananthapuram.



The disquieting thing is, all it takes to be a retail agent is a permit from a civic body. No police verification. No monitoring. Sreehari (name changed), a mobile retail agent at Edapally in Kochi, is more forthcoming. “I know many agents who literally sell the numbers of girls to ‘desperate guys’. Many have approached me too. But I know better,” he says.



The harrowing experience of Shalini, a widow hailing from Wayanad, bares the gravity of the issue. “I kept getting obscene videos on WhatsApp from multiple numbers. I deleted the app. Then the stream of calls began. Once my daughter picked up the call, and the guy started talking dirty to her. I called him up and threatened to go to the police. He snapped and confessed he got my number from a retail agent,” she says.



Shockingly, one in every three women in Kerala has experienced phone abuse, but most of them choose to remain tight-lipped fearing the ‘it’s your fault’ refrain.



Adv Sandhya Raju, women’s rights activist, says, “Revealing call data is a breach of contract and trust. The cops junk these sexual offences as frivolous for want of evidence. Helpline numbers for women in the state remain on paper.”



Sounding a stern warning, Mobile Phone Retailers Association of Kerala (MPRAK) state president Shihan Bashe says, “Those who indulge in such insolent acts will be chucked out of the association. We have already placed warning signs at all mobile outlets in Malappuram against such offences,” he says.



Manoj Abraham, nodal officer of Cyberdome, IG South Zone, says, “Phone stalking is a physical crime. The phone is an instrument used by the perpetrators to commit the crime. And hence these cases fall under the ambit of the police.”