TAFCOP: Check How Many SIMs Are Issued in Your Name

TAFCOP answers a question most people have never asked: how many mobile numbers are registered on my name? The answer is often more than you think. A SIM taken by a shop assistant on a spare copy of your Aadhaar, a number a relative took on your ID years ago, a connection you forgot: each is a liability, because a number on your identity used for fraud leads the police to you first.

Checking takes two minutes and needs nothing but your own phone. This guide walks through the TAFCOP page on Sanchar Saathi, what each result means, and the follow-up when a stranger's number appears.

What TAFCOP checks, and what it cannot see

Telecom Analytics for Fraud Management and Consumer Protection is a Department of Telecommunications facility. Every operator records the identity document used when a connection is issued. TAFCOP matches those records to the identity behind the number you log in with and lists every connection, across all operators, recorded against it.

Its limit follows from its method. A SIM obtained on forged papers, or on another person's documents, is not linked to you and will not appear. TAFCOP is the right first check for identity misuse, not the last. For connections obtained on your genuine Aadhaar, it also helps to review the authentication history on the UIDAI site, which shows when and where your Aadhaar was used.

Step 1: Open TAFCOP and log in

Go to sancharsaathi.gov.in, choose the "Know your mobile connections" service, and enter your mobile number. Complete the captcha and the OTP. The Sanchar Saathi app offers the same service after a one-time registration. No document is uploaded and no fee is charged; a site asking for money or Aadhaar scans to "check SIMs in your name" is a fake.

Step 2: Read the list

The page shows every number recorded on your identity, with each number partly masked and the operator shown. Your own current number is in the list too, which is a useful sanity check that the lookup matched the right identity. Beside each is a choice: this is my number, not my number, or not required. Go through them with the household. Typical explanations for unfamiliar entries:

• A number taken for a parent, spouse or child on your ID, still active.
• A corporate or college connection issued years ago.
• A number you ported or abandoned that was never formally closed.
• A connection issued by a retailer who reused your KYC documents without consent.

The last is the one to worry about. Retail-level misuse of KYC documents is a known source of mule numbers used in identity theft and SIM swap cases, and a number that was "yours" on paper can be the one that called a victim.

Step 3: Report the numbers that are not yours

Select "Not my number" for each stranger and submit. For numbers that are yours but which you no longer use, select "Not required"; the operator will close them, which reduces the surface for misuse. You receive a reference number for each report and can check its status on the same page later. The operator re-verifies the subscriber and disconnects numbers that cannot be justified. There is no call-back; the action is administrative.

The nine-connection cap. DoT permits up to nine mobile connections per individual, and six in the Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and North-East service areas. Connections above the limit are flagged for re-verification by the operator. (Source: Department of Telecommunications, Sanchar Saathi.)

Step 4: Follow up if a stranger's SIM was on your identity

Disconnection stops future misuse of that number. It does not undo what the number may already have been used for, so a short protective routine is worth the hour it takes. Do it the same day; the point is to have dated records before any victim's complaint, bank notice or police enquiry reaches you.

If a loan or account has been opened in your name, the follow-up is more involved: a police complaint, a written dispute with the lender and the credit bureau, and sometimes an FIR. The sequence is in how to file a cyber crime FIR, and the broader checklist for stolen identity is on our identity theft page.

Why your own numbers matter too

A connection you forgot about is still live, still receiving OTPs for whatever you once registered with it, and still in your name if it is reassigned to a fraudster after inactivity. Closing unused numbers through TAFCOP's "Not required" option is quiet housekeeping that removes a door. Make the check a twice-yearly habit, the way you would check a bank statement, and do it after any event where you handed over ID copies: a new SIM, a hotel stay, a job application, a rental agreement.

Sanchar Saathi's other services complete the set. CEIR blocks a lost handset by IMEI, and Chakshu reports the fraud messages that arrive on the numbers you do keep. How the portal fits with MeitY and the police is described in the Sanchar Saathi ecosystem explainer. If identity misuse has already cost you money, the bank and police follow-ups are what our financial fraud response service handles, at a fixed fee; and if anyone calls offering to "remove" numbers from your name for a charge, that is a scam, because TAFCOP does it free.