1 Cr Fraud Numbers Disconnected via Sanchar Saathi: DoT

The DoT has announced that its Sanchar Saathi portal has successfully disconnected 1 crore fraudulent numbers. This initiative is part of a broader effort to combat cyber fraud and spam calls. Additionally, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has mandated telecom operators to disconnect and blacklist entities involved in bulk spam calls.

New Delhi: The Department of Telecom (DoT) on Wednesday said that its Sanchar Saathi portal has disconnected ‘one crore fraud numbers’. DoT’s Sanchar Saathi portal is a citizen-centric web portal created to fight cyber fraud, enabling citizens to report suspicious calls and messages.

“Huge 1 crore fraud numbers disconnected via Sanchar Saathi,” DoT posted on social media platform X. In a bid to curb the menace of spam calls, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has also directed telecom operators to disconnect and blacklist entities using bulk connections for spam calls, including robocalls and pre-recorded calls.

“In the last fortnight over 3.5 lakh such numbers have been disconnected and 50 entities have been blacklisted. In addition, around 3.5 lakh unused/ unverified SMS headers and 12 lakh content templates are blocked,” according to the Ministry of Communications.

Sanchar Saathi also helps Indian mobile users track and block lost smartphones and identity theft, forged KYC, using the CEIR module. About “2.27 lakh mobile handsets have been blocked for involvement in cybercrime /financial frauds,” the ministry said.

It noted that the benchmarks for key parameters like network availability call drop rates, and packet drop rates are to be gradually tightened. In this regard, TRAI has also released its revised regulations, 'The Standards of Quality of Service of Access (Wirelines and Wireless) and Broadband (Wireline and Wireless) Service Regulations, 2024 (06 of 2024)’.

These regulations will come into effect from October 1, and from 1st April next year, monthly monitoring of the Quality of Service performance of mobile service will be started instead of a quarterly basis.

In May, the government issued directions to Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for blocking incoming international spoofed calls -- which appear to be originating within India but being made by cyber-criminals from abroad by manipulating the calling line identity.

DoT and the TSPs also devised a system to help identify and block incoming international spoofed calls from reaching any Indian telecom subscriber. The DoT had previously asked the TSPs to block incoming international spoofed calls with Indian landline numbers.