Do you know what the risks of buying a chip on the street are? If you have ever hired a mobile service in an unauthorized place and you have had to register your fingerprint, you run the risk of being a victim of criminal acts, such as a fraud or that they take out a high-end equipment without your authorization, warns the Supervisory Body for Private Investment in Telecommunications (Osiptel )
The sale of mobile chips on public roads is prohibited, since the contracting of mobile services -both prepaid and postpaid- through distributors is carried out only at points of sale with a specific address, and that are previously reported by the operating companies to the Osiptel.
The operating companies, therefore, must comply with the rules so that the contracting of the service is carried out by providing sufficient information to the user and the ownership of the public telecommunications services is properly registered.
WHAT IS THE DANGER OF BUYING A CHIP ON THE STREET?
The outpatient sale of chips violates the rights of users by not offering any guarantee of what has been acquired, for the following reasons:
- Exposure of personal data through a portable biometric fingerprint, which is a great risk.
- There is no way to certify that the necessary protocols for contracting a mobile line are followed.
- The user does not receive clear, detailed and up-to-date information about what he is buying, because he buys the product on the street.
- The speed of the operation, due to the fact that it is carried out on public roads, does not allow checking the characteristics of the service that they are offering in the contract.
WHY IS IT A RISK TO REGISTER MY DIGITAL FINGERPRINT WHEN BUYING A CELL PHONE CHIP FROM A TRAVELER?
The executive president of Osiptel, Rafael Muente Schwarz, warned that giving your fingerprint is like giving your ID to a stranger and by doing so, “you open the door for various crimes to be committed.”
“A bad seller can activate other lines with the fingerprint of the victim and sell them to people who do not want to be identified, and can be used for extortion, fraudulent hiring, non-consensual procedures (portations and migrations), as well as for non-consensual purchases of high-end equipment, among other illicit”specified the official, who stressed that, for this reason, Osiptel, with the support of other entities, has launched the #YoNoComproChipCallejero campaign.
WHAT IS THE PENALTY FOR THE OUTPATIENT SALE OF CHIPS?
Osiptel indicated that, from 2020 to March 2022, it has sanctioned and imposed fines of S/20 million, approximately, on mobile phone companies for infractions related to inspections of the sale of mobile chips on public roads. These are the amounts per company.
- Telefónica: S/ 6.26 million (30%)
- Bitel: S/ 5.40 million (26%)
- Entel: S/ 4.48 million (22%)
- Clear: S/ 4.42 million (22%)
