Cyber crime: Government directs telcos to block incoming international spoofed calls

In an attempt to curb cyber crime, the Government of India has issued directions to telecom service providers to block incoming international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers.

“It has been reported that fraudsters are making international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers to Indian citizens and committing cyber-crime and financial frauds. These calls appear to be originating within India but being made by the cyber-criminals from abroad by manipulating the Calling Line Identity (CLI). Such international spoofed calls have been misused in recent cases of fake digital arrests, FedEx scams, drugs/narcotics in courier, impersonation as Govt and police officials, disconnections of mobile numbers by DoT/TRAI officials, etc.,” as per a statement issued by the Ministry of Communications.

To combat such frauds and enhance cyber safety of Indian citizens, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Telecom Service Providers have created a system to identify and block such incoming international spoofed calls from reaching any Indian telecom subscriber. The government has directed service providers to block such incoming international spoofed calls.

Meanwhile, telecom service providers have already started blocking incoming international spoofed calls with Indian landline numbers following the directions issued by DoT.

The Government of India has been persistently making efforts to check cyber frauds under the secure India project at three levels: national, organisational, and individual. DoT, MHA and Police have joined hands for curbing the misuse of telecom resources in cyber crime and financial frauds.

Keeping in mind the safety and security of India’s citizens, DoT has taken initiatives including citizen centric Sanchar Saathi portal (https://sancharsaathi.gov.in/) to protect telecom users.

Govt identifies 6.80 lakh potentially fraudulent mobile connections

Last week, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) flagged nearly 6.80 lakh mobile connections suspected of being registered with fake or invalid identification documents during the registration process. These connections are suspected to have been obtained using invalid, non-existent, or fake/forged Proof of Identity (PoI) and Proof of Address (PoA) KYC documents. DoT identified these potentially fraudulent 6.80 lakh mobile connections with the help of advanced AI-driven analysis. The Department of Telecommunications directed telecom service providers to immediately start re-verification of these identified mobile numbers and complete the task within 60 days. Failure to complete re-verification will result in the disconnection of the concerned mobile numbers.

Telcos directed to block 28,200 handsets and reverify 20 lakh connections

Earlier this month, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) directed telecom service providers to block 28,200 mobile handsets and to carryout immediate reverification of 20 lakh mobile connections linked to these mobile handsets across India. If these mobile connections fail in the re-verification, then they will be disconnected.

This comes after a recent analysis by the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and State Police which has revealed that 28,200 mobile handsets were misused in cybercrimes. The DoT further analyzed and found that a staggering 20 lakh numbers were used with these mobile handsets, as per an official statement.