BSNL warns customers over missed calls from select series

Next time you get a missed call from numbers starting with +92; #90 or #09, you would be better off not calling back. Issuing alerts to subscribers particularly about the series mentioned above, BSNL has said calling the number back after a missed call may make a user susceptible to SIM card cloning.

The claim has yet not been confirmed as intelligence officials and BSNL differ on whether it would be possible to  clone a SIM card given that it would require physical access to the card or the interception of the communication between the caller and his or her cellphone operator's network.

It is said that over a 1,00,000 subscribers had already ended up being victims of the scam. Intelligence agencies too are said to have confirmed to the service providers particularly in the UP west telecom division that such a racket had been on and the menace was fast increasing. .

According to BSNL general manager RV Verma, the department had already issued alerts to all the broadband subscribers and now alerts were being sent to other subscribers as well.

A SIM card can be cloned by using a hardware tool that is capable of reading and copying information from it, however wireless or remote interception of information contained within the SIM, though theoretically possible, is considered extremely difficult.

This would  require tools for hacking into the telecom operator's network that might be very expensive. The procedure for performing various tasks using several gadgets is described in an article on the website eHow.