The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued an advisory to citizens not to take fake calls in which callers are threatening to disconnect their mobile numbers, or their mobile numbers are being misused in some illegal activities.
The DoT had also issued an advisory about WhatsApp calls from foreign-origin mobile numbers like +92-xxxxxxxxxx (country code of Pakistan) impersonating as government officials and duping the people.
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”Cyber criminals through such calls try to threaten or steal personal information to carry out cyber-crime/financial frauds. The DoT/TRAI does not authorise anyone to make such a call on its behalf and has advised people to stay vigilant and report such fraud communications at ‘Chakshu – Report Suspected Fraud Communications’ facility of Sanchar Saathi portal (www.sancharsaathi.gov.in/sfc). Such proactive reporting helps DoT in prevention of misuse of telecom resources for cyber-crime, financial frauds, etc,” an official release said.
The DoT has advised citizens to report at cyber-crime helpline number 1930 or www.cybercrime.gov.in in case somebody becomes a victim of cyber-crime or financial fraud.
The release said various measures have been taken to combat suspected fraud communications and to curb cybercrime activities. These include:
–Under the CHAKSHU facility, 52 Principal Entities, involved in sending malicious and phishing SMSs to the citizens have been blacklisted;
–700 SMS content templates have been deactivated. 348 mobile handsets blacklisted on pan-India basis across all telecom operators;
–10,834 suspected mobile numbers flagged for re-verification to the telecom operators out of which 8272 mobile connections disconnected failing re-verification till 30th April 2024;
–1.86 lakh mobile handsets blocked on pan India basis for involvement in cybercrime/financial frauds; and
–Advisories have been issued on a regular basis for the public to create awareness of fake notices impersonating DoT/TRAI, suspected fraud communications, and malicious calls via press, SMS, and social media.
