New Delhi:
The Government of India has instructed telecom companies to take action against international fake calls displaying Indian mobile numbers.
The directive affects major telecom operators like Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone-Idea, and BSNL
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) highlighted in an advisory that fraudsters are using international fake calls to commit cyber crimes and financial fraud by showing Indian mobile numbers.
How International Call Fraud is Committed
According to the DoT, these fraudulent calls are made by cyber criminals from abroad, who manipulate the Calling Line Identification (CLI) to make it appear as if the calls originate from within India.
These international calls have been involved in scams such as fake digital arrests, FedEx scams, and false claims of drugs or narcotics in couriers.
The fraudsters often pose as government or police officials to deceive common people.
The DoT has asked telecom operators to block such suspicious international numbers.
The Department of Telecommunications, along with Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), has implemented a system to detect and block these international fraudulent calls.
TSPs have now been instructed to block any incoming international calls that appear fraudulent, ensuring they do not reach Indian telecom subscribers.
Actions Taken by Telecom Operators
In response to the Ministry of Telecommunications’ instructions, telecom operators like Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone-Idea are actively working to stop these scams.
This includes blocking landline numbers of telecom operators as directed by the DoT.
Recently, the DoT also instructed telecom operators to re-verify 6.8 lakh mobile numbers suspected of being acquired with invalid, non-existent, or fake documents within 60 days.
These connections were identified as potentially fraudulent and are being scrutinized to prevent further misuse.
