India Issues Notice for Fraudulent Mobile Tower Installations
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) recently shared a notification on its official website to caution Indian citizens who are approached for mobile tower installations on their properties. The notification warns the public about companies or agencies that might approach people under the pretense of installing mobile towers to scam them for money.
Reports claim that many individuals, companies, and agencies are approaching Indian citizens these days for installing mobile towers on their properties. However, before moving ahead, the fraudulent actors instruct the victim to deposit a certain amount in the bank as “government tax” for leasing the property. These fraudulent actors, as per the authorities, sometimes produce fake NOCs (No Objection Certificates) that look to be issued by the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology of India (MeiTY).
“The mobile towers are installed by the Telecom Infrastructure providers like Indus Towers, American Tower Corporation, Summit Digital Infrastructure, Ascend Telecom, Tower Vision. IPs are taking several steps to caution the public about the frauds and have devised various modes to collect information about potential locations through various channels such as toll-free numbers, websites, e-mails etc.”, TR Dua, the Director-General of DIPA, said in a statement. “Besides this, as a responsible association, DIPA has also been publishing public notices in newspapers for alerting the public about the tower frauds.”
So, if you are approached by an individual, company, or agency, claiming that they would like to install a mobile tower on your premise, be sure to thoroughly check their background before moving ahead with the initiative or depositing any amount in their bank account. In case you are suspicious, you can let your local authorities know about the potential fraud.
