New Delhi, February 5 (IANS). Taking major action to curb cyber crime and financial fraud, the government has disconnected 39.43 lakh mobile connections across the country. Apart from this, 2.27 lakh mobile handsets and 1.31 lakh SMS templates have also been blacklisted.
Dr. Pemmasani Chandra Shekhar, Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, gave this information in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. He said that to prevent misuse of telecom resources, the Department of Telecommunications has established Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), thereby preventing cyber crimes and financial frauds.
The Minister informed that the ‘Sanchar Sathi’ initiative of the Department of Telecommunications is available to common citizens through web portal and mobile app. Under this, citizens can report suspicious calls, messages or other fraudulent communications through the ‘Chakshu’ facility.
He said the purpose of Sanchar Saathi is to promote reporting of such cases where fraud has been attempted but actual loss has not occurred. Whereas cases where there is actual financial loss are handled by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C), which functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The minister said that generally the consumer is given an opportunity for re-verification before any action is taken on a mobile connection. Complete details of the action taken are available on the dashboard of Sanchar Sathi portal.
“Based on 7.7 lakh inputs received from citizens, 39.43 lakh mobile connections were disconnected, 2.27 lakh mobile handsets were blacklisted and 1.31 lakh SMS templates were blacklisted,” he said.
According to the Minister, based on the information shared through DIP, the concerned stakeholders take necessary action on the accounts and profiles linked in their respective areas.
He also informed that due to interception of transactions through FRI (Fraud Risk Indicator) and issuing timely alerts, frauds worth more than Rs 1,000 crore have been prevented so far.
Apart from this, WhatsApp has also deactivated 28 lakh profiles and accounts linked to shared mobile numbers.
–IANS
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