Who Sent Five Million SMS Messages In A Day Urging People To Join A Pro-Monarch Demonstration And Create Panic?

Kathmandu: Since Sunday, millions of SMS messages have been sent through AT Alert and SI Alert, urging people across Nepal to participate in a pro-monarch demonstration scheduled for 14 January. The messages call for the abolition of provinces, the establishment of a “traditional great kingdom,” and a directly elected prime minister.

The messages appear to have been sent using SMS gateways operated by Aakash SMS and SI Alert. The alerts named an individual identified as Ditharsh Sedhai and called on recipients to join the demonstration.

According to Rajan Koirala, Sales and Marketing Manager of Aakash SMS, the company had signed an agreement with Vedvyas Enterprises Private Limited to provide SMS services for business promotion.

“We provide an SMS platform to various companies,” Koirala told TechPana. “Vedvyas Enterprises was given access under a business promotion agreement.”

Koirala said the company violated the agreement by sending political and controversial messages late at night.

“We blocked the service immediately after discovering the misuse,” he said. “By then, around five million SMS messages had already been sent.”

He said attempts were made to contact Nitish Sedhai on behalf of Vedvyas Enterprises, but the issue has not yet been resolved. While confirming that more than five million messages were sent, Koirala said Aakash SMS does not know how the phone numbers were obtained.

“We only provide the system. We do not have access to the source of the numbers,” he said.

However, information technology experts say it is technically impossible to send five million SMS messages by randomly typing phone numbers. They say the delivery rate would be extremely low in such a case.

According to experts, such a large volume of verified data can only come from databases held by large banks, telecom companies, e-commerce platforms, or government agencies. They also argue that topping up five million SMS credits and sending them at once is not possible without the involvement or oversight failure of the service provider and the client company.

Koirala said Vedvyas Enterprises had been using the service for a long time and had only sent legitimate commercial messages in the past.

“They gained our trust first,” he said. “Then, late at night, they misused the system to send millions of illegal messages.”

He added that while telecom operators have systems to detect phishing or illegal links, the messages could not be blocked in time because they appeared to be standard invitations.

“Telecom companies should also have mechanisms to detect and stop messages that are sent in such massive volumes,” he said.

Advocate and digital rights activist Baburam Aryal said the incident is a serious violation of the Personal Privacy Act and the Telecommunications Act. He also cited the Advertising Act, which restricts mass messaging without consent.

“It is unclear where these phone numbers came from,” Aryal said. “This violates multiple laws. The Telecommunications Authority should revoke the license of companies involved, and service providers should immediately cancel such agreements.”

Another advocate, Rashtrabimochan Timalsina, said personal data often leaks when users accept app privacy policies without understanding them.

“People approve apps without reading that their data may be shared with third parties,” he said. “This problem is worsened when even government bodies, such as the Election Commission, fail to maintain confidentiality.”

He added that it is still unclear whether the data was obtained legally or illegally, but stressed that sending such a large volume of SMS messages randomly is not feasible.

When TechPana contacted Sedhai’s mobile number for comment, the call went unanswered. An automated WhatsApp reply was active, which sent an invitation letter urging participation in the Baluwatar demonstration on 30 Poush 2082. The message claimed the protest would continue indefinitely and that one million citizens would take to the streets.

According to Aakash SMS, the director of Vedvyas Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. is Nitraj Sedhai.

Meanwhile, Bhupendra Bhandari, Chairperson of the Nepal Telecommunication Authority, said he also received such messages.

“Many citizens, including myself, are receiving these messages without consent,” he said. “This raises serious questions about how personal mobile numbers are being collected.”

Central Bureau of Investigation Chief AIG Dr. Manoj Kumar KC of the Central Bureau of Investigation said legal action will be taken if the messages are found to incite unlawful activities or violate digital rights.

 

पछिल्लो अध्यावधिक: जेठ २१, २०८३ १६:३८

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