In recent times, citizens have been receiving a number of fraudulent calls, often appearing as coming from Indian mobile numbers. In reality, these calls are manipulated by cyber criminals operating from abroad. These criminals exploit the Calling Line Identity (CLI) to hide the true origin of the calls, leading to a spate of incidents involving mobile number disconnections, fake digital arrest threats, and even impersonation of government officials or law enforcement agencies. Recent cases have involved false allegations related to drugs, narcotics and sex rackets, further increasing public concern. In response to this growing threat, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in collaboration with Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) has introduced an advanced system designed to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls before they reach Indian telecom subscribers. The system is being implemented in two phases: first, at the TSP level to block spoofed calls from their own subscribers phone numbers; and second, at the central level to prevent spoofed calls from subscribers’ numbers from other TSPs. So far, all four TSPs have successfully implemented this system. About one-third of the total 4.5 million spoofed calls are being prevented from entering the Indian telecom network. The next phase will involve a centralized system that will eliminate the remaining spoofed calls across all TSPs. This is expected to be operational soon. However, fraudsters keep innovating and creating new ways to cheat the public. DoT is taking timely steps to protect telecom users whenever these new methods are reported. In this era of rapidly evolving technology, DoT has taken several steps to make the telecom ecosystem safe and secure. However, despite these robust security measures, there may still be cases where fraudsters succeed by other means. In such cases, DoT encourages citizens to proactively report suspected fraudulent communications to help DoT identify and prevent misuse of telecom resources for cyber crime, financial frauds. This will also help protect citizens from impersonation, exploitation and take proactive action against potential threats. Citizens can report such calls on Chakshu facility available on Sanchar Saathi platform ( https://sancharsaathi.gov.in/ ) by providing details about suspected fraudulent calls, SMS and WhatsApp messages including screenshots, mode of receipt, category of intended fraud, date and time of receiving such messages. An OTP based verification of the report will be done. Chakshu facility is a significant step towards protecting citizens from cyber frauds. This facility helps in early detection and prevention of potential frauds by providing a streamlined process for reporting suspicious activities, thereby saving users from financial and personal losses. Additionally, the Government has taken various measures to prevent misuse of telecom resources: The results of the actions taken by DoT till date are summarized below:
