Summary:
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has blacklisted over 2.1 million (21 lakh) mobile numbers and nearly 1 lakh fraudulent entities in a major crackdown against spam calls and SMS fraud. This large-scale action was driven by citizen reporting through the TRAI DND App—highlighting public participation as key to rooting out telecom misuse.
TRAI has disconnected and blacklisted more than 2.1 million phone numbers and nearly 100,000 entities involved in sending spam or fraudulent messages over the past year, a decisive step in its ongoing campaign to clean up telecom fraud.
According to TRAI, these actions were made possible because citizens actively reported spam using the official TRAI DND Application, enabling operators and regulators to trace, verify, and permanently shut down abusive numbers. TRAI warns that simply blocking numbers on one’s own phone is ineffective — such blocking only hides the number for that user but does not prevent the spammer from obtaining new numbers and continuing their activity.
In its advisory, TRAI recommends users download the DND App to report unwanted calls/SMS, avoid sharing personal or banking information over calls or messages, immediately disconnect suspicious calls, and report fraud to the National Cybercrime Helpline (1930) or via www.cybercrime.gov.in. It also encourages using Sanchar Saathi’s “Chakshu” feature to report attempts to telecom-based fraud.
This action underscores TRAI’s commitment to building a safer and more trustworthy telecom ecosystem. Enforcement is backed by technology-driven monitoring and strong regulatory frameworks, with public participation playing a central role in rooting spam at the source.
