1.77 Crore Mobile Connections Disconnected, 45 Lakh Spoofed Calls Blocked: Centre

New Delhi: The Centre on Friday informed that 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.

“The next phase, involving a centralised system that will eliminate the remaining spoofed calls across all TSPs, is expected to be commissioned shortly,” said the Ministry of Communications. DoT has introduced an advanced system designed to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls before they can reach Indian telecom subscribers.

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. As part of the action on 1.77 crore mobile connections, the Centre disconnected 33.48 lakh mobile connections and blocked 49,930 mobile handsets used by cyber criminals in cyber-crime hotspots/districts of the country.

About 77.61 lakh mobile connections exceeded the prescribed limits for an individual have been disconnected and 2.29 lakh mobile phones involved in cyber-crime or fraudulent activities have been blocked. About 12.02 lakh out of 21.03 lakh reported stolen/lost mobile phones have been traced, and DoT and TSPs disconnected about 20,000 entities, 32,000 SMS headers and 2 lakh SMS templates involved in sending malicious SMSs.

“About 11 lakhs accounts have been frozen by the banks and payments wallets which were linked to disconnected mobile connections taken on fake/forged documents,” informed the ministry. Nearly 11 lakhs WhatsApp profiles/accounts have been disengaged by WhatsApp which were linked to disconnected mobile connections taken on fake or forged documents.

The DoT informed that 71,000 Point of Sale (SIM Agents) have been blacklisted so far and 365 FIRs have been registered in multiple states and UTs.