Govt Launches Crackdown Against Fake Mobile Connections
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Over 1.77 crore fake mobile connections disconnected to prevent international spoofed calls
By Sanjay Singh
New Delhi, October 5: Indian telecom companies have blocked over 45 lakh international spoofed calls on a daily basis, according to officials at the Department of Telecommunications (DOT). The action has come amid an avalanche of cases involving calls made from fake numbers. A number of people reported losing money to scams involving “digital arrests”.
The government on Friday informed that at least 1.77 crore mobile connections have been disconnected so far which used fake or forged documents, by using artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools.
Moreover, four telecom service providers (TSPs) have successfully implemented an advanced system in collaboration with Department of Telecommunications (DOT), blocking 45 lakh spoofed international calls so far from entering the Indian telecom network.
This is an advanced solution jointly developed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and all four major telecom operators namely Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone India and state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).
Government sources said the solution is designed to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls before they can reach Indian mobile users.
Caller ID spoofing is the process of changing the Caller ID to any number other than the actual calling number. Caller ID spoofing happens when a caller knowingly falsifies the info transmitted to disguise the number they’re calling from.
Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) are blocking 45 lakh spoofed calls daily using an advanced solution jointly developed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and all four telecom operators.
“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,” DOT has said.
Currently, this system is being deployed in two phases. Furst, at the telecom carrier level, to prevent calls spoofed with phone numbers of their own subscribers and at the second, with the central government agencies, to stop calls spoofed with the numbers of subscribers from other telecom operators.
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