Beware of callers warning 'action against cellphone misuse', says DoT advisory

Vishing, Fraud calls: With an increasing number of unscrupulous phone calls being received by mobile phone subscribers, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued an advisory underlining that phone calls are being received where callers identify themselves as government officials, threatening subscribers of mobile disconnections of what they call as "action against misuse". 
While the DoT advisory has come as a wake-up call for mobile phone subscribers, its cybercrime prevention measures are already operational. Republic Business puts together measures to safeguard mobile phone subscribers from potentially harmful callers.

In a statement, Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked mobile phone subscribers to report such calls to cybercrime helpline numbers. "Calls are being received by the citizens wherein callers, in the name of DoT, are threatening that all of their mobile numbers would be disconnected or their mobile numbers are being misused in some illegal activities," said the DoT advisory. 

The DoT has also issued an advisory about WhatsApp calls from foreign-origin mobile numbers impersonating government officials and duping the people, the DoT advisory further added. 

Notably, as per a recent study, more than 60 per cent of India's population reportedly received three or more ‘pesky’ or spam calls on average every day during the last 12 months. A  survey was conducted by LocalCircles among 60,000 respondents, who were cellphone subscribers located in 378 districts of the country. The findings of the survey revealed that 30 per cent of the respondents got one to two spam calls on average per day, while 36 per cent stated that they get a minimum of three to five spam calls almost daily.

Fraud WhatsApp calls

The DoT has also issued an advisory over WhatsApp calls from foreign-origin numbers. "In the name of DoT, are threatening that all of their mobile numbers would be disconnected or their mobile numbers would be misused in some illegal activities.

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"The DoT has also issued an advisory about WhatsApp calls from foreign origin mobile numbers (like +92-xxxxxxxxxx) impersonating government officials and duping the people," said the DoT statement. 

"Cyber criminals through such calls try to threat/steal personal information to carry out cyber-crime/financial frauds," added the advisory. The DoT does not authorise anyone to make such call on its behalf and has advised people to stay vigilant and asked not to share any information on receiving such calls.

The DoT has advised citizens to report such fraud communications at ‘Chakshu-Report Suspected Fraud Communications’ facility of Sanchar Saathi portal (www.sancharsaathi.gov.in). Such proactive reporting helps DoT in the prevention of misuse of telecom resources for cybercrime, financial frauds, etc.

Further, citizens can check the mobile connections in their name at ‘Know Your Mobile Connections’ facility of Sanchar Saathi portal (www.sancharsaathi.gov.in)  and report any mobile connection not taken by them or not required. The DoT has also advised citizens to report at cyber-crime helpline number 1930 or www.cybercrime.gov.in in case of already a victim of cyber-crime or financial fraud.

TRAI's caller identification 

The DoT advisory on unscrupulous phone calls comes weeks after the TRAI issued recommendations over its proposed move to make caller identification for incoming calls necessary. As per TRAI recommendations, all access service providers should provide Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) supplementary service to their telephone subscribers upon their request. 

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The name identity information provided by the telephone subscriber in the Customer Application Form (CAF) should be used for the purpose of CNAP, TRAI has recommended.  Besides, the telecom regulator as well as private firms offering malware protection have been coming to the rescue of aggrieved cellphone subscribers. 

The menace of Vishing or voice phishing, that uses fraudulent phone calls to trick victims into providing sensitive information, like login credentials, credit card numbers, or bank details has been a concern for India's telecom sector.  To address the issue, telecom regulator TRAI's 'DND (Do Not Disturb) 3.0' app has helped subscribers to avoid pesky text messages. The TRAI app offers an intelligent spam detection engine (for SMS only) to assist the subscriber in reporting.  There has also been a TRAI proposal for crowdsourcing of data about offending messages and calls to speed up detection of unregistered telemarketers. 

The TRAI app also allows updates about action taken on complaints within the App and moreover has an easier interface and setup. TRAI DND App is also available on the central government's UMANG App.