According to records from a private Indian phone network operator, if
you had recently dialed the phone number 9177523297 in India, you would
have gotten President Barack Obama on the line.



Of course, the person who answered the phone
wasn't the president -- instead it was a 22-year-old Indian man named M
Prasad who signed up for a cell phone connection using a file photo of
Obama, The Times of India reported Tuesday.



The president's photo even appeared to have the
US flag draped behind Obama's right shoulder, but that wasn't enough to
stop the operator from signing off on Prasad's phone connection, even
after he had to produce his own photo identification to prove it was
him.



Local police in Nalgonda, where Prasad lives,
notified their senior officers in the central Indian city of Hyderabad
about the fake Obama documents and have since shut down the phone
connection.



Police believe the problem lies in the lax laws
that regulate the highly competitive telecommunications sector in India,
saying that increased competition means sellers do not verify buyer's
identities.