Telcos block 20 global carriers allowing spoofed calls to reach India

DoT has asked telcos to flash 'international calls' on all calls originating abroad

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Indian telecom operators have complied with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) order to block traffic from 20 international operators which were repeatedly sending spoofed calls to India, the DoT said on Friday.

 

This and other recent measures have led to the number of spoofed calls identified and blocked with Indian numbers now dipping to about 4 lakhs per day, it said.

 

Fraudsters were earlier using international spoofed calls that displayed Indian mobile numbers to deceive Indian citizens and carrying out cyber-crimes and financial frauds. Despite being made from abroad, these calls appear to originate from within India, through the manipulation of the Calling Line Identity (CLI), or the phone number. Private carriers Bharti Airtel, and Reliance Jio, alongside state-owned BSNL, have blocked traffic from such international carriers, the DoT said.

 

Rising instances of CLI exploitation had led to a spate of incidents involving threats of mobile number disconnection, fake digital arrests, and even impersonation of government officials or law enforcement agencies. Recent cases have included false accusations involving drugs, narcotics, and sex rackets, further intensifying public concern.

 

The DoT has asked telcos to display the text ‘International Call’ on all calls coming from outside India.

 

“This helps the citizen to understand that it cannot be from organisations like DoT, TRAI, police, RBI, customs, UIDAI etc. One of the major service providers has already implemented this in its network and others are in process of doing so," the DoT said.

 

In October last year, the DoT along with telecom operators had launched the International Incoming Spoofed Calls Prevention System. The tool proved to be a formidable barrier that blocked 90 per cent of all the incoming international calls which were identified as spoofed calls, approximately 1.35 crore, within 24 hours.

 

The DoT said the system has been successful in reducing the number of spoofed calls identified and blocked with Indian numbers. In November, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the technical system deployed by the government is blocking 1.35 crore fraud calls daily and has helped save people’s assets worth Rs 2,500 crore till date.

 

Being deployed in two phases, the system first prevented calls spoofed with phone numbers of their own subscribers at the level of TSPs, while also stopping calls spoofed with the numbers of subscribers from other TSPs, at a central level.