For some days, I have been
receiving text messages from my mobile service operator about some chat
service. Like any other ‘value added service’ text message, I would delete them
without reading. During the course of a normal conversation, a senior informed
me how such ‘friend chat’ services are being used as front for ‘phone sex
rackets’.
Last November, the Noida Cyber
Crime Cell had arrested four for an alleged phone-sex service. According to a
report from the ‘Indian Express’, the police named Airtel along with the ‘value
added services’ (VAS) company Altruist in the case. Airtel had outsourced its ‘Airtel
Friendz Chat’ service to Altruist and Altruist had outsourced it to some other
call-centre. The chat service was used to run a phone-sex racket. Airtel was
named in the FIR for allegedly failing to monitor the service.
Among the four arrested were the
General Manager of Altruist, two call-centre executives and one woman who used
to speak to the people connected through the service.
I cannot say anything about the
text messages that I am receiving from my service operator Vodafone these days
as I haven’t responded to them and I haven’t come across any media report about
complaints of the similar nature that was the case with Airtel’s service.
But what is surprising is the
service is still continued. The senior told me that calling on 543216 from any
Airtel number routes to the same service. He told me of many cases and
complaints where the service was activated without consent of the users. Activating
VAS services without taking consumer’s consent is a common con by the mobile
service operators but when it connect to some criminal activity then such
negligence become criminal in nature.
What is unbelievable is that an
operator like Airtel, largest in India and among the largest in the
world can be so lackadaisical. First it failed to monitor manipulation of one
of its ‘value added services’ for a criminal act. And then hearing a complaint
of the similar nature about the same service just after two months only adds to
the mounting trust gap.
Where is the Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI), the apex telecom regulatory body in the country?
Apart from the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections and Information Technology (IT)
Act, the arrested were also charged for violating the TRAI guidelines.
If it is true, it needs to be
investigated. Airtel must take responsibility and act. TRAI must probe the
negligence on part of Airtel as well as by its own people. Because the
follow-up reports say the problem could be much bigger in scale.
Some follow-up reports after the
November 5 arrests said there were many call-centres in Noida running phone-sex
services under the garb of VAS and also that the women working in these
call-centres were sourced from the local prostitution rackets.
They focused on how it would hurt
the ‘VAS’ industry as Altruist, an established VAS player, was involved in
cheap and dirty business practices. The return is handsome as in this case.
Reportedly, the Altruist phone-sex service generated several crores in revenue.
When the lure of easy bucks is so
high and when there is such negligence on part of the monitoring agencies, the
Altruist case could not be a standalone case.
But the follow-up action in this
case has been pathetic. When this properly reported case had the nemesis of being
neglected so soon (if a 543216 call by an Airtel number still redirects to a
manipulated VAS outlet), what can we say about misuse of many other VAS
elements as most of the ‘value added services’ are outsourced by the big
service operators.
Weblinks to some of the reports: