Airtel Introduces AI-Powered Fraud Detection Solution for Emails, WhatsApp and More

Bharti Airtel on Thursday introduced a new fraud detection solution which aims to safeguard consumers against rising risk of online fraud. It is said to work across OTT apps and communication platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, shielding them any potential threats. When a customer tries to access a website that has been flagged as malicious by Airtel's security system, the page loading process is blocked and they are redirected to a page which details the potential threat.

Airtel's Fraud Detection Solution: How It Works

In a press release, Airtel announced that it has implemented a multi-tier intelligence platform which leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to safeguard its consumers against scams and fraud. With its threat detection platform, the telecom operator carries out domain filtering across all platforms which intercepts and inspects Domain Name System (DNS) queries to check if it is listed in a known blocklist or violates a predefined security policy.

The safe links are shown to be a secure website, while it blocks the link, which is found to be malicious, across devices.

The company emphasises the rising threat of online fraud due to digital platforms becoming ubiquitous. What began with simple OTP frauds and fraud calls has evolved into complex online scams targeting millions of people globally. It is due to this growing threat that the telecom operator has introduced its latest proactive measure.

As per the telecom operator, the service works in real time across all platforms such as emails, browsers, SMS, and over-the-top (OTT) apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, and Instagram, It is claimed to be integrated and auto-enabled for all Airtel mobile and broadband customers without incurring any extra cost.

The new fraud detection solution is currently live in the Haryana circle and will be rolled out nationwide soon, says Airtel.

This builds upon the recent expansion of Airtel's network-based AI solution for spam calls and messages detection to 10 Indian languages. It automatically identifies and detects spam calls and SMSes and sends a notification to users to alert them. Now, users in India will get these alert notifications in ten regional languages, including Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu, in addition to the existing English option.