For the purpose of preventing financial frauds and cybercrime, DoT has established a secure online Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) where stakeholders can share information about misuse of telecom resources. Approximately 620 organizations, including banks, TSPs, I4C, State/UT Police, Central Security Agencies, and the Goods & Service Tax Network (GSTN), have been onboarded on DIP.
MHA’s role in cybercrime governance
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) handles cybercrime cases in accordance with business regulations. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) works to stop cyber fraud by prohibiting the misuse of telecom resources.
Moreover, the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution states that “Police” and “Public Order” are state matters. In order to provide Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) with a framework and ecosystem for addressing cybercrimes, MHA established the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (14C) as an associated office.
To help the public report all kinds of cybercrimes, MHA also launched the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, or NCRP (https://cybercrime.gov.in).
19 lakh complaints, Rs 22,812 crore loss: I4C reports on cybercrime
I4C reports that in 2024, the total number of NCRP complaints and losses sustained were Rs 19.18 lakh and Rs 22,811.95 crore, respectively. Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) and DoT have also developed a method to identify and stop inbound overseas spoof calls that use Indian mobile numbers.
By impersonating the Calling Line Identity (CLI), these calls look to be from inside India, but they are actually coming from outside cybercriminals. Additionally, DoT has created an in-house Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data Analytics tool called ASTR to identify SIMs obtained by the same person under several names in order to combat SIM taking by using forged documents.
DoT’s awareness initiatives: Educating people on telecom safety
To stay up to date on the latest telecom safety measures and to educate people about telecom-related frauds, DoT constantly tries to establish connections with the public.
Additionally, efforts have been made to encourage the use of the Sanchar Saathi App/portal, a DoT initiative focused on people, for reporting suspected fraud calls.
State-specific orientation and local language content sharing, social media campaigns, recurring press releases, SMS campaigns, and collaboration with different stakeholders like law enforcement agencies (LEAs), banks, and telecom service providers (TSPs) have all been used to try to engage with the public and raise awareness.
Additionally, as part of DoT’s Sanchar Mitra volunteer program, student volunteers from a number of universities are actively engaging with the public to educate them about Sanchar Saathi, fraud prevention, and digital safety.
To guarantee their mobile connectivity and to report fraud, they are engaging with the public through awareness campaigns, workshops, and in-person contacts.
Measures taken by DoT include the following:
- DoT has created an online secure Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) to share information pertaining to misuse of telecom resources among the stakeholders to prevent cybercrime and financial frauds.
- Around 620 organisations have been onboarded on DIP, such as central security agencies, State/UT Police, I4C, Goods & Service Tax Network (GSTN), Banks, TSPs, etc.
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DoT has created the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI), which is a risk-based indicator that categorises a mobile number to have been linked with Medium, High, or Very High risk of financial fraud.
- FRI empowers stakeholders-particularly banks, NBFCs, and UPI service providers, to give priority enforcement and take further customer protection action in case a mobile number is of high risk.
Also read: Viksit Workforce for a Viksit Bharat
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