The government has disconnected 39.43 lakh mobile connections, blacklisted 2.27 lakh mobile handsets and blocked 1.31 lakh SMS templates as part of efforts to curb cyber-crime and financial fraud across the country, according to information shared in Parliament on Thursday.
Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that these actions were taken through initiatives led by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to prevent misuse of telecom resources in cyber-crimes and financial fraud cases.
The DoT has established the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) to facilitate monitoring, analysis and preventive action against fraudulent telecom usage. The platform enables coordination among stakeholders to identify suspicious activities linked to telecom networks and initiate corrective measures.
The government has also made the Sanchar Saathi initiative accessible through both a web portal and mobile application to encourage public participation in reporting suspected fraud communications. Within this initiative, the Chakshu facility allows citizens to report suspicious calls, messages or other communications across various categories, even in cases where fraud attempts did not result in financial loss.
According to the minister, incidents involving actual financial loss are handled by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), which functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs and has been designated to deal with cyber-crime cases under the allocation of business rules.
Authorities typically provide an opportunity for mobile users to re-verify their credentials before taking action against connections flagged for suspected misuse. Data on enforcement actions is made available through the Sanchar Saathi portal dashboard.
Based on approximately 7.7 lakh citizen inputs, enforcement agencies carried out the disconnection of 39.43 lakh mobile connections, blacklisted 2.27 lakh handsets and blocked 1.31 lakh SMS templates suspected of facilitating fraud-related activities.
The minister also noted that stakeholders act on information shared via the Digital Intelligence Platform by analysing associated accounts and profiles within their respective domains to prevent misuse.
Further, financial fraud prevention measures under the Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) system have helped avert losses exceeding Rs 1,000 crore. These savings were achieved through declined transactions and alerts or notifications issued to citizens to prevent potential fraud.
In addition, WhatsApp has disengaged 28 lakh profiles or accounts linked to mobile numbers flagged through the shared intelligence framework, reflecting coordinated action between government agencies, telecom operators and digital platforms.
The government maintains that these measures are part of a broader strategy to strengthen cyber security, reduce telecom-related fraud risks and enhance public awareness about reporting suspicious communications.
