According to the Ministry of Communications, India employed AI-based techniques to deactivate 1.77 crore mobile connections associated with fraudulent or forged documents. The restriction is part of a bigger effort to defend the telecom network, which includes prohibiting 45 lakh fraudulent international calls using a sophisticated technology developed in collaboration with
A centralized mechanism for blocking fake calls will be implemented soon.
The new system from the Department of Transportation will be introduced in two phases. The first step requires telecom service providers to ban calls from being made using their own customers’ phone numbers. In the second phase, a centralized system will restrict spoofing calls with numbers from other TSPs.
The Ministry of Communications indicated that the second phase will begin soon, enhancing security measures across all telecom networks. Thousands of devices are blacklisted, and 1.77 crore connections have been removed.
To tackle cybercrime, the government has terminated 33.48 lakh mobile connections and blacklisted 49,930 mobile devices used by criminals at hotspots across India. Furthermore, 77.61 lakh mobile connections that exceeded the legal limit for individual users were removed, and 2.29 lakh phones used in fraudulent operations were prohibited.
The DoT also traced 12.02 lakh of the 21.03 lakh reported lost or stolen mobile phones. Furthermore, over 11 lakh accounts related to these fraudulent links have been suspended by banks and payment wallets. As part of a larger operation, the Ministry has blacklisted 71,000 Point of Sale (SIM) agents who have engaged in illicit SIM card sales.
In addition, nearly 11 lakh WhatsApp accounts related to false or counterfeit papers have been deactivated. The government has also taken action against entities that transmit malicious SMS messages, disconnecting around 20,000 companies, and 32,000 SMS headers, and barring 2 lakh SMS templates from participating in these fraudulent operations.
These projects demonstrate India’s growing dependence on AI capabilities to protect its communications infrastructure and combat cybercrime. The next phase of the DoT’s efforts to combat faked calls is likely to strengthen the country’s defense against telecom fraud.