New Delhi: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), under the Ministry of Communications, has issued advisories regarding fake calls. According to a press release issued by the ministry, individuals should not entertain any calls threatening to disconnect their mobile phones on behalf of the DoT or Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
The statement added that individuals are also encouraged to report such issues on the Sanchar Saathi portal website. The DoT has issued this advisory to warn citizens against fake calls where callers threaten to disconnect their mobile numbers or misuse them for illegal activities.
Additionally, the DoT has issued advisories regarding WhatsApp calls originating from foreign mobile numbers (e.g., +92-xxxxxxxxxx), impersonating government officials and deceiving people.
According to the DoT, cyber-criminals use such calls to threaten or steal personal information to carry out cyber-crimes or financial frauds. The DoT and TRAI do not authorise anyone to make such calls on their behalf and have advised people to remain vigilant and report such fraudulent communications through the 'Chakshu – Report Suspected Fraud Communications' facility on the Sanchar Saathi portal.
Proactive reporting assists the DoT in preventing the misuse of telecom resources for cybercrimes, financial frauds, etc, the statement added. The DoT also advises citizens to report cybercrimes or financial frauds to the cybercrime helpline number 1930 or cybercrime website if they become victims.
The government has implemented various measures in the past to combat suspected fraudulent communications and curb cybercrime activities. Under the Chakshu facility, 52 principal entities involved in sending malicious and phishing SMSs to citizens have been blacklisted.
Additionally, 700 SMS content templates have been deactivated, and 348 mobile handsets have been blacklisted on a pan-India basis across all telecom operators. In addition, the government has recently blocked many mobile phones, the statement added.
According to recent data provided by the government, 10,834 suspected mobile numbers have been flagged for re-verification to telecom operators, out of which 8,272 mobile connections were disconnected for failing re-verification until April 30, 2024. Furthermore, 1.86 lakh mobile handsets have been blocked on a pan-India basis for involvement in cybercrimes or financial frauds.
However, experts do not find these measures sufficient to safeguard the citizens of the country.
Pavithran Rajan, a former advisor to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), shared with ETV Bharat that the current advisories lack real impact until both central and state governments collaborate to create meaningful legislation on these issues. He stressed that fraudulent calls have been a persistent problem and cannot be adequately tackled through advisories alone.
Rajan underscored the importance of having a police force not hamstrung by jurisdictional issues in investigating cases outside their state borders. "The absence of a national police force that can investigate these crimes is the single largest reason why very few of these cases are successfully prosecuted and leads to convictions. This has resulted in such crimes being a low risk venture for criminal groups," Rajan contended.
Rajan further highlighted that in other democracies any crime that occurs wherein interstate jurisdiction hampers investigations are automatically taken over by federal police authorities.
"This has not happened in India as the state governments ruled by different political parties want to maintain turf fearing granting such powers will be misused for political reasons. The sufferers are the citizens. This also impacts the economy as poor law and order situation has an impact on the business environment. The nation has to realise that world class infrastructure is just one of the factors needed for economic development," added Rajan.
