Minister for Communications Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday launched the Sanchar Saathi portal aimed at preventing various frauds such as identity theft, forged KYC, and banking frauds by the misuse of mobile phones.

While speaking at the launch, Vaishnaw said the reforms being introduced today were a step towards furthering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a Digital India which ensures the safety and security of the users.

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The three reforms are:

—CEIR (Central Equipment Identity Register) – for blocking stolen/lost mobiles;

—Know your mobile connections – to know mobile connections registered in your name; and

—ASTR (Artificial Intelligence and Facial Recognition powered Solution for Telecom SIM Subscriber Verification) – to identify fraudulent subscribers.

By using the Sanchar Saathi portal, more than 40 Lakh fraudulent connections have been identified and more than 36 Lakh such connections disconnected so far.

Vaishnaw urged the users to visit the portal and avail of the services. The link to the portal is (https://sancharsaathi.gov.in).

With 117 crore subscribers, India has emerged as the second-largest telecom ecosystem in the world. In addition to communication, mobile phones are being used for banking, entertainment, e-learning, healthcare, availing government services, etc.

It is, therefore, crucial that the users are protected from various frauds such as identity theft, forged KYC, theft of mobile devices, banking frauds, etc.

To protect users, the Department of Telecom has developed a citizen-centric portal named Sanchar Saathi. It allows citizens to check the connections registered on their names, report fraudulent or unrequired connections, block the mobile phones which are stolen/lost, and check IMEI genuineness before buying a mobile phone.

The entire system has been designed in-house by the Department of Telecom.