Govt rolls out new system to block fraudulent calls originating from abroad

“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 (second) phase, involving a centralised system that will eliminate the remaining spoofed calls across all TSPs, is expected to be commissioned shortly,” the Ministry of Communications said in a press release dated October 4.

“However, even with these robust safeguards, there may still be instances where fraudsters succeed through other means,” it added. In recent times, many Indians have reported receiving scam or spam calls from unknown international numbers via WhatsApp and other OTT platforms.

The ministry further outlined the steps that it has taken in the past to prevent the misuse of telecom resources, such as setting up a Digital Intelligence Unit (DIU) to tackle cybercrime and financial frauds, and launching the Sanchar Saathi portal for citizens to block and track their lost or stolen mobile phones across India.

It has also established a Digital Intelligence Platform that enables information sharing between local authorities, central agencies, banks, telecom operators, and other stakeholders to prevent online scams.

DoT also said that it uses AI tools to identify and disable mobile connections that have been acquired using forged KYC documents. A recent directive by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) directed all telecom operators to enable AI/ML spam detection systems to curb unwanted calls and SMSes from unregistered telemarketers (UTM).

To reduce spam calls, TRAI has also proposed a mandatory caller ID system called CNAP and mulled differential tariffs for subscribers making over 50 calls or sending out 50 SMSes a day.