New Delhi, February 4: The Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, Dr. Chandrasekhar Pemmassani, announced on Wednesday that the Telecom Department’s Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) system has made it easier to identify mobile numbers linked to financial fraud.
In a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha, the minister explained that the Telecom Department has developed the FRI, a risk-based metric that classifies mobile numbers according to their association with medium, high, or very high financial fraud risks.
Based on the FRI, stakeholders such as banks and UPI service providers can initiate necessary actions according to the analysis of accounts or profiles linked to their respective sectors. Reports from stakeholders indicate that over ₹1,000 crores in fraudulent transactions have been prevented through transaction rejections and alerts/notifications sent to citizens.
The minister further stated that the Telecom Department has implemented several other measures to prevent the misuse of telecom resources and protect citizens from cyber fraud at a national level.
Detailing these initiatives, Pemmassani mentioned the launch of a program called “Communication Partner,” available as a web portal and mobile app for citizen convenience.
This platform allows citizens to report suspicious fraudulent communications, obtain information about mobile connections issued in their name, report lost or stolen mobile handsets, and verify the authenticity of mobile devices.
According to the minister, through the Communication Partner initiative, 833,000 lost or stolen mobile handsets have been recovered. Additionally, 22.4 million mobile connections reported as “Not My Number” or “Not Required” have been disconnected, and 3.944 million mobile connections have been shut down based on 770,000 reports of suspicious and fraudulent communications submitted by citizens.
The minister also noted that the Telecom Department and telecom service providers (TSPs) have developed a system to identify and block international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers. This system has led to a nearly 99% reduction in attempts of such calls.
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