RBI on January 17, 2025 has issued Regulatory prescriptions and Institutional Safeguards for Prevention of financial frauds perpetrated using voice calls and SMS. With a view to mitigate the potential misuse of mobile numbers, Regulated Entities (REs) are advised to:
- Utilize the Mobile Number Revocation List (MNRL) available on the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) developed by Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications, Government of India to monitor and clean their customer database. To enhance fraud risk monitoring and prevention, the REs are further advised to develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) incorporating the required action to be taken including, inter alia, updating the registered mobile number(RMN) after due verification; enhanced monitoring of accounts linked to these revoked mobile numbers for preventing the linked accounts from being operated as Money Mules and / or being involved in cyber frauds, etc.
- Provide the verified details of their customer care numbers to DIP for enabling DoT to publish them on the “Sanchar Saathi” portal (https://sancharsaathi.gov.in/). The details may be shared on the DoT email adg.diu-dot@gov.in.
- Undertake transactional / service calls only using ‘1600xx’ numbering series, when operationalized; undertake promotional voice calls only through phone numbers using ‘140xx’ numbering series; follow the “Important Guidelines for sending commercial communication using telecom resources through Voice Calls or SMS” issued by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and annexed to this circular. REs are also advised to undertake awareness measures in this regard through emails, SMS and other modes, including in vernacular languages.
