DoT, Trai and telcos give renewed thrust to counter spam, cyber fraudsters

NEW DELHI: A fresh push is being given to counter spam and unsolicited commercial communication with the department of telecom ( DoT ), regulator Trai , and private telcos initiating new programmes to counter the menace that is also leading to cyber frauds and phishing attacks.

Regulator Trai and DoT have been cracking down on spammers and blocking numbers that are seen to be engaging in fraudulent activities. Also, they have held meetings with top representatives from telecom companies time and again, asking them to be vigilant on such activities while stipulating new rules to counter it.

Airtel has also recently launched a new AI-led initiative to detect spam and warn its customers, while Vodafone Idea said it is leveraging blockchain technology to launch an SMS spam control system.

Trai and DoT have so far disconnected over one crore mobile connections to check pesky callers and fraudsters. "Till date, more than one crore fraudulent mobile connections have been disconnected with the help of Sancharsaathi. Further, 2.27 lakh mobile handsets have been blocked for involvement in cybercrime/financial frauds," they said recently.

In August, Trai initiated a major crackdown against pesky calls as it asked mobile operators to disconnect the telecom resources of entities that are found misusing bulk connections for making spam calls. It said that such entities will face blacklisting by all operators for up to two years.

And from Oct 1, Trai has also mandated that telecom companies check the transmission of SMSes that contain web links that are not whitelisted. The new rule has also been brought in to curb the misuse of SMS headers and content templates, ensuring a more secure and efficient telecom ecosystem.

Also, the regulator has mandated telecom operators to ensure that all messages from sender to receiver are traceable from November 1 onwards.

Earlier this month, Airtel also launched a network-based, AI-powered spam detection solution that will significantly solve the issue of spam calls and messages. The tool, which comes free of cost, alerts customers in real-time to all suspected spam calls and SMSes.

“Spam has become a menace for customers. We have spent the last 12 months to solve this comprehensively… (and) shield our customers from the continuous onslaught of intrusive and unwanted communications,” Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal said.

Vodafone Idea said it has set up a URL whitelisting platform that will be going live soon. “Vi plays an active role along with TRAI, COAI, and other telecom operators to enforce the Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) regulations, aiming to significantly reduce spam calls from unregistered telemarketers,” the company said.