Lok Sabha Question No. 3179 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-11
Subject: Digital Frauds
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Shri Arun Govil

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3179 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11 TH  MARCH, 2026

## DIGITAL FRAUDS

## †3179. SHRI ARUN GOVIL:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) whether any special mechanism has been put in place by the Government to prevent digital frauds and incidents like so-called "digital arrests" through misuse of telecom resources and if so, the details thereof;

(b) the details of the outcomes achieved so far in preventing misuse of telecom resources and protecting citizens from cyber fraud through initiatives such as Sanchar Saathi, Financial Fraud Risk Indicators and Digital Intelligence Platform;

- (c) whether  the  Government  has  conducted  any  training/awareness  programmes  for  banks, telecom service providers and general public to create awareness to prevent cyber frauds; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof particularly with regard to Meerut and Hapur districts of Western Uttar Pradesh?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. PEMMASANI CHANDRA SEKHAR)

(a) & (b) Department  of  Telecommunications  (DoT)  has  undertaken  several  measures  to prevent the misuse of telecommunications resources in digital frauds including incidents like socalled "digital arrests". Some of the prominent measures along with their outcomes are as follows:

- i. Sanchar Saathi: This is a citizen centric initiative, available as web portal (www.sancharsaathi.gov.in) and mobile App, which facilitates citizens to report suspected fraud  communications,  to  know  mobile  connections  in  their  name,  to  report  lost/  stolen mobile handsets, to check genuineness of mobile handset etc. Through Sanchar Saathi, 9.08 lakh  lost/  stolen  mobile  handsets  have  been  recovered,  2.41  crore  mobile  connections, reported by the citizens as 'Not My Number' or 'Not Required', have been disconnected and 39.73 lakh mobile connections have been disconnected based on 8.54 lakh inputs provided by the citizens related to suspected fraud communications.
- ii. International Incoming Spoofed Calls Prevention System (CIOR): This is a system to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers that appear to be originating from within India. Such calls are, inter-alia, being misused to impersonate government  officials  in  cyber-frauds  like  digital-arrests.  Since  its  commissioning  on 17.10.2024, CIOR has shown significant results, blocking 1.35 crore calls in 24 hours and

has resulted in nearly 99% reduction in spoofed calls with Indian calling line identification. Calls that still land on international gateways are blocked there itself.

- iii. Digital  Intelligence  Platform  (DIP): This  is  a  secure  online  platform  for  bi-directional information sharing with stakeholders for prevention of misuse of telecom resources in cybercrimes and financial frauds. More than 1,200 organisations have been on-boarded on DIP, including central security agencies, Police departments of 36 States and Union territories, Indian  Cyber  Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), banks,  Unified  Payments  Interface (UPI) service providers, payment system operators and Telecom Service Providers (TSPs).
- iv. Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI): This is a risk-based metric that categorises a suspicious mobile number according to its probability of being associated with medium, high or very high risk of financial fraud. FRI empowers stakeholders - especially banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and UPI service providers - to prioritise enforcement and take additional  customer  protection  measures  like  enhanced  due  diligence  and  adoption  of necessary  real-time  response  protocols  (alerts,  transaction  delays,  warnings,  transaction decline etc.) for flagged mobile numbers. Since its launch in May 2025, financial institutions have reported that transactions amounting to over ₹1,500 crore have been prevented utilising FRI.

(c) & (d) DoT and its field units are actively undertaking multilingual awareness campaigns including through social media platforms, news articles, digital screens, hoardings in public spaces, TV & radio messages, SMS campaigns, student volunteers through Sanchar Mitra scheme etc. DoT is  conducting  regular  training  of  various  stakeholders  including  TSPs,  banks,  state  police.  Since 1.1.2025, field units of DoT have conducted 639 Sanchar Saathi awareness programs, 399 meetings with  stakeholders,  141  trainings  of  state  police  users  for  handset  recovery  and  published  1217 physical  &  electronics  advertisements.  In  Meerut  &  Hapur  districts,  total  10  Sanchar  Saathi awareness programs and one training of state police users have been conducted during the aforesaid period.

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