Despite having undergone many reviews of genuine SIMs, the situation of subscribers registering incorrect information or being named in other people still exists. Many users when checking on VNeID discovered that there are phone numbers named in their names but no longer used or completely unaware of the existence of these subscribers. This is considered one of the risks leading to junk SIMs and phone scams.
On the afternoon of April 29, in an exchange with Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Anh Cuong - Deputy Director of the Telecommunications Department (Ministry of Science and Technology) said that more than 95 million subscribers have been synchronized to the VNeID application. According to preliminary statistics from C06, nearly 900,000 subscribers have been found to be non-genuine. More than 60 million subscribers have been confirmed by people to use their own owners, while about 34 million subscribers have not yet been confirmed. People can continue to carry out confirmation from now until June 15.
According to Mr. Nguyen Anh Cuong, recently many users have wondered why in 2023 there was a general review of genuine SIM cards but now they still have to continue to confirm subscriber information on VNeID.
Representatives of the Telecommunications Authority said that people need to clearly distinguish between "verifying subscriber information" and "confirming the subscriber's owner".
Verifying subscriber information has been implemented for a long time. When people register for new subscribers, they must provide personal papers. This information is cross-checked by telecommunications businesses with the National Population Database to ensure accurate subscriber data," Mr. Cuong said.
According to Mr. Cuong, this is a step to clean up data from network operators and management agencies. Subscribers with inconsistent information or signs of inaccuracy will be required to update and standardize.
In 2023, Vietnam implemented a general review of subscriber information on a large scale with about 120 million active subscribers. Through comparison with the National Population Database, management agencies discovered about 17 million subscribers with inaccurate information.
Of these, about 11 million subscribers have been re-standardized, and about 6 million subscribers are required to stop service.
However, a representative of the Telecommunications Authority emphasized that the previous review only stopped at ensuring "real papers, real people".
Meanwhile, confirming ownership on VNeID allows people to proactively check all phone numbers that are in their name on network operators. For the numbers they are using, people can confirm ownership. For the numbers they no longer use or do not recognize, people can refuse.
According to Mr. Nguyen Anh Cuong, the new point of this deployment is the connection with VNeID and the National Population Database, helping people have more tools for direct inspection.
Representatives of the Telecommunications Department said that in reality, there are many cases where a person registers multiple SIMs for relatives or personal information is exploited to register junk SIMs without knowing it.
In the process of coordinating with the police agency, we have witnessed many cases of people being summoned to coordinate investigation because phone SIMs were lost or had not been used for a long time but were still in their names and were used by bad guys for fraudulent acts," Mr. Cuong shared.
According to the 2023 Telecommunications Law, users must be legally responsible for the number of subscribers they have contracted.
For people without VNeID or facing difficulties in the confirmation process, the Telecommunications Authority said it will coordinate with local police, local authorities and network operators for direct support.
According to management agencies, verifying and confirming the subscriber's owner is aimed at standardizing telecommunications data, protecting users and limiting the situation of taking advantage of phone SIMs for illegal acts.
