Concerning the unfortunate incident of a fraud call in Agra, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Friday said that the WhatsApp account of the fraudulent mobile number has been disengaged. "It is our earnest request to citizens, in case a message/call is suspected fraudulent, it should be reported to the Chakshu portal at http://sancharsaathi.gov.in," the DoT said in a statement.
In response to this growing threat, the DoT in collaboration with Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) has introduced an advanced system designed to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls before they can reach Indian telecom subscribers.
The department said this system is being deployed in two phases: first, at the TSP level, to prevent calls spoofed with phone numbers of their own subscribers; and second, at a central level, to stop calls spoofed with the numbers of subscribers from other TSPs.
The department said 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 next phase, involving a centralized system that will eliminate the remaining spoofed calls across all TSPs, is expected to be commissioned shortly," it said.
Fraudsters, however, continue to adapt and devise new methods to deceive the public. DoT is taking timely measures to protect telecom users as these new ways are reported. In the age of rapidly evolving technology, the DoT has taken multiple measures to make the telecom eco-systems safer and secure. However, even with these robust safeguards, there may still be instances where fraudsters succeed through other means.
In such cases, DoT encourages citizens to proactively report suspected fraud communications to help DoT in identification and prevention of misuse of telecom resources for cyber-crime, financial frauds. It will also help in safeguarding citizens from impersonation, exploitation, and enabling proactive action against potential threats.
The DoT said citizen can report such calls at Chakshu facility available on the Sanchar Saathi platform (https://sancharsaathi.gov.in/) by providing details about suspected fraud calls, SMS, and WhatsApp messages including screenshot, medium of receipt, category of intended fraud, date and time of receiving such communication. An OTP based verification will be carried out.
