New Spoofed Calls Prevention System Blocked 1.35 Crore International Calls in 24 Hours, Says DoT

The new 'International Incoming Spoofed Calls Prevention System' has been made operational and in just 24 hours the system has identified and blocked about 1.35 crore calls as spoofed calls, the telecom department said on Tuesday. Indian telecom subscribers should see a significant reduction in such spoofed calls with implementation of this system, it said.

Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia launched the system in the presence of Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar.

"Of late, cyber criminals have been committing cyber crimes by making international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers (+91-xxxxxxxxx). These calls appear to be originating within India but are actually being made from abroad by manipulating the calling line identity (CLI) or commonly known as phone number," a release said.

These spoofed calls have been used for financial scams, impersonating government officials, and creating panic. There have also been cases of cyber-crime threatening disconnection of mobile numbers by DoT/TRAI officials, fake digital arrests, drugs/narcotics in courier, impersonation as police officials, arrest in sex racket among other incidents.

"Department of Communications (DoT) and Telecom Service (TSPs) have collaborated and devised a system to identify and block such incoming international spoofed calls from reaching the Indian telecom subscribers.

"The system was made operational and it has been observed that within 24 hours of operation of the system, about 1.35 crore or 90 per cent from all the incoming international calls with Indian phone numbers were identified as spoofed calls and blocked by TSPs from reaching Indian telecom subscribers," the release said.

It is pertinent to mention here that digital tools and AI are being misused blatantly by online scammers and fraudsters to dupe unsuspecting public. There are umpteen instances of fraudsters nudging victims to click on malicious links, or using deepfakes and voice cloning for scams.

The sophisticated web of AI-powered deceit makes it harder to spot online scams, and fraudsters have been known to clone and mimic a person's voice from even short audio clips nicked from video a person may have uploaded online.

Scammers then leverage the AI-cloned voice to pose as the person and demand money from friends and family.

At the same time, scammers are also using 'digital arrest' modus operandi, where they place audio or video calls, falsely pose as law enforcement officers, and use online intimidation to confine victims to their homes for extortion.

These elaborate and sophisticated scams involve cybercriminals using fake documents, replicating virtual courtroom or police stations as a backdrop, to place victims under 'digital arrest'.

Recently, SP Oswal, chairman and managing director of Vardhman Group was defrauded of Rs. 7 crore by a gang which posed as officials from various government agencies.

On Monday, Bharti Group Chairman Sunil Mittal speaking at NDTV World Summit had cited a personal anecdote on how a senior executive of the company stationed in Dubai received a fraudulent call that seemed to mimic Mittal's voice and tone and directed a large fund transfer.

The official who was vigilant and "sensible" immediately detected the fraud. Mittal admitted that when he heard the voice recording himself he was "stunned" as "it was perfectly articulated as I would speak".

"And anyone who would not have been vigilant may have done something about it," Mittal had said and warned that in future misuse of technology will enable fraudsters to go a step ahead and use digital signatures, even faces on zoom calls to perpetrate such acts.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)