Vodafone-Idea fined Rs 27 lakh in Rajasthan for data leak

Jaipur: Rajasthan government on Monday imposed a fine of Rs 27 lakh on telecom company Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) on a data leak charge.

The action came n a first of its kind case under the IT Act 2000, when an adjudicating officer directed the telecom entity to pay the penalty amount to the victim who suffered a loss of Rs 68 lakh due to lack of data security. Officials involved told IANS that the authority found the company guilty of negligence in issuing to a new customer the SIM of the complainant who found his SIM damaged and then applied for a new one.

The authority asked the company to pay the amount within a month failing which it would have to pay interest of ten per cent per annum.

The customer's mobile SIM was damaged and he applied for a duplicate. But in the meantime, the SIM number was issued to another customer without any verification by the telecom player, and the new SIM owner managed to withdraw Rs 68 lakh from the first customer's account which was linked to the said SIM with his overdraft facility.

The victim, after five days, was able to access his SIM and then came the messages of money withdrawal from his account. He complained about the matter and claimed compensation, under the IT Act, from the company.

Official sources said that the incident occurred in 2020. A police case was filed and the accused were traced in Alwar and arrested. Out of the Rs 68 lakh, around Rs 44 lakh was returned to the customer. But as the remaining amount was pending, the customer filed a complaint under the IT Act.

The matter was heard by the adjudicating officer, Principal Secretary, IT and Communications, Alok Gupta, who, in his order on Monday, imposed a fine of Rs 27.23 lakh on Vodafone.