Fake calls and sms scams
New Delhi, Apr 02, 2025 : Matters relating to Cyber Crime are under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as per allocation of the business rules. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) undertakes efforts to prevent misuse of telecom resources for cyber frauds. Further, 'Police' and 'Public Order' are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. MHA has established the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (14C) as an attached office to provide a framework and eco-system for Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to deal with cyber-crimes. MHA has also launched the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal- NCRP (https://cybercrime.gov.in) to enable public to report all type of cybercrimes. As per I4C, total number of complaints on NCRP and amount lost were 19.18 lakh and 22811.95 crore respectively in 2024. Further, DoT and Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) have devised a system to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers that appear to be originating from within India. These calls appeared to be originating within India but were being made by the cyber-criminals from abroad by spoofing the Calling Line Identity (CLI).
DoT actively engages with citizens to raise awareness about telecom-related frauds & scams, to encourage the use of the Sanchar Saathi App/portal, a citizen centric initiative for accessing information, reporting suspected fraud communications, and staying updated on the latest telecom safety measures. Engagement with citizens is through robust social media campaigns, regular press releases, SMS campaigns and collaboration with multiple stakeholders like Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs)/Banks/TSPs/Student Volunteers etc.
DoT has developed an online secure Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) for sharing of information related to misuse of telecom resources among the stakeholders for prevention of misuse of telecom resources for cyber-crime and financial frauds. About 560 organizations have been onboarded on DIP that include central security agencies, 35 State Police, TSPs, Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) etc. The system to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers was commissioned on 17.10.2024 and it has shown significant results blocking 1.35 crore calls in 24 hours of its launch, after being identified as spoofed. As on 03.03.2025, calls identified as spoofed and blocked were only 4 lakh so the system has resulted in reduction of almost 97% incoming spoofed calls with Indian CLI.
This information was given by Dr. Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, Minister of State for Communications & Rural Development, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.