Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and BSNL are blocking 45 lakh spoofed calls daily using an advanced solution jointly developed by the DOT and all four telecom operators. “As of now, all four TSPs have successfully implemented the system. About one third of total spoofed calls at 4.5 million spoofed calls are being stopped from entering the Indian telecom network,” the Ministry of Communications (MoC) said in an official statement on Friday. The solution is designed to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls before they can reach Indian telecom subscribers.
This system is being deployed in two phases: first, at the telecom carrier level, to prevent calls spoofed with phone numbers of their own subscribers; and second, at a central level, to stop calls spoofed with the numbers of subscribers from other telecom operators.
“The next phase, involving a centralized system that will eliminate the remaining spoofed calls across all TSPs, is expected to be commissioned shortly,” the ministry said. This initiative comes on the heels of Indian citizens receiving frequent fraud calls, often disguised as originating from Indian mobile numbers. The ministry said cybercriminals exploit the Calling Line Identity (CLI) to mask the actual origin of the calls, which has led to a spate of incidents involving threats of mobile number disconnection, fake digital arrests, and even impersonation of government officials or law enforcement agencies.
A citizen can report such calls at the Chakshu facility available on the Sanchar Saathi platform by providing details about suspected fraud calls, SMS, and WhatsApp messages including screenshots, medium of receipt, category of intended fraud, date and time of receiving such communication. An OTP based verification will be carried out, the ministry said.
SPAM CALL SPAM SMS 🫷
— DoT India (@DoT_India) September 22, 2024
3 simple steps to report
1) Visit Sanchar Saathi Portal
2) Click: ‘Citizen Centric Services’ > ‘Chakshu’
3) Report: Fill Spam calls/ SMS details pic.twitter.com/bJx74n3wsN
Also Read:
Report International Calls with RICWIN
As per data presented by the ministry, the DoT has disconnected 1.77 crore mobile connections taken on fake or forged documents, disconnected 33.48 lakh mobile connections and blocked 49,930 mobile handsets used by cyber criminals in cybercrime hotspots or districts of the country, while 77.61 lakh mobile connections exceeding the prescribed limits for an individual have been disconnected.
Further, the telecom department has blocked 2.29 lakh mobile phones pan-India involved in cybercrime or fraudulent activities, and disconnected about 20,000 entities, 32,000 SMS headers and 2 lakh SMS templates involved in sending malicious SMSs. 71,000 Point of Sale (SIM agents) have been blacklisted. 365 FIRs have been registered in multiple states/Union Territories (UTs), as per the statement.
