The DoT continues to lead the charge towards transforming the Indian telecom ecosystem making it more- Samaveshit (ubiquitous connectivity fuelling inclusive growth), Viksit (developed India through triad of perform, reform and transform), Tvarit (accelerated development and swift resolutions), and Surakshit (safe and secure).
Reforms related to Citizens Centric Services and prevention of misuse of Telecom resources for cyber-crime and financial fraud:
- Cyber-crime increasingly involves misuse of telecom resources like mobile SIMs, mobile handsets and Apps. Cybercriminals are exploiting telecom resources to perpetrate cybercrimes and financial frauds. DoT has taken various measures for preventing misuse of telecom resources in cyber-crime and financial frauds.
- Sanchar Saathi Portal: First of all, there was a need to register complaints of calls that appear suspicious or fraudulent. For this, DoT has developed a citizen centric Sanchar Saathi portal (www.sancharsaathi.gov.in), which has about 9 crore visitors hits till December 2024 and on an average 3 lakh visitors per day land on this portal. The portal provides various facilities for reporting of cases related to misuse of telecom resources which are as under: Chakshu – to report suspected fraud communications and Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC), to know the mobile connections issued in their name and report the mobile connections for disconnection which are either not required or not taken by them, to report the stolen / lost mobile handset for blocking and tracing, to check the genuineness of mobile handset while buying a new/old device;
to report the incoming international calls received with Indian telephone number as calling line identification. - Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP): The second need that was felt was how to bring all stakeholders together to share information. For this, DoT has launched an online secure platform i.e. DIP for sharing of information related to misuse of telecom resources among the stakeholders for prevention of cyber-crime and financial frauds. At present about 520 organizations including Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), MHA, 460 banks and financial institutions, 33 States/UTs police, central agencies and other stakeholders have on-boarded this platform. This platform, inter-alia, hosts the list of disconnected mobile connections on near real time basis along with the reasons for disconnections enabling the stakeholders to take appropriate action including to disengage the associated services linked with these mobile numbers.
- ASTR: AI based tool called ASTR has been developed to which help in identifying the mobile connections taken on fake / forged documents or taken exceeding the prescribed limits for an individual. Such mobile connections along with telecom resources and mobile handsets used in fraudulent activities are being weeded out from the telecom.
- Based on the feedback from Sanchar-Saathi, information shared on DIP and internal artificial intelligence and big data-based analysis, DoT has disconnected 2.67 crore numbers based upon, subscribers’ feedback (under not my mobile number and not required), inputs from I4C MHA, LEAs, Banks, and connections exceeding individual limits. 70895 Point of Sales (PoS) / SIM agents have been blacklisted and 365 FIRs are registered involving 1890 POS / SIM agents. This has helped in preventing misuse of telecom resources in cyber-crimes and financial frauds.
- International Incoming Spoofed Calls Prevention System: :DoT along with TSPs devised International Incoming Spoofed Calls Prevention System to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls from reaching the Indian citizens. This system has been launched by Hon’ble Minister of Communications on 22.10.2024. Within 24 hours of operation of the system, about 1.35 crore or 90% from all the incoming international calls with tempered Indian phone numbers were identified as spoofed calls and blocked by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) from reaching Indian telecom subscribers. By December 2024, the spoofed calls identified and blocked with Indian numbers have dipped to about 6 lakhs indicating that the system has successfully tackled the issue of cyber-crimes that were being conducted through calls being made from abroad, but look as Indian number due to CLI tempering.
