Spam, scam calls and texts on govt radar

NEW DELHI: The Union government is planning a crackdown on spam and financial frauds that are perpetrated over phone calls and text messages, the communications ministry said in a statement on Monday, announcing work on a new platform to report unsolicited calls and messages and a new Data Intelligence Unit that will help coordinate between law enforcement agencies, banks and service providers.

The announcement was made after Union minister for communications Ravi Shankar Prasad held a meeting on Monday to address rising consumer complaints that range from unsolicited text messages and calls to serious financial frauds through Vishing – a strategy in which suspects make calls pretending to be bank officials to access privileged information as passwords and account details.

“In the meeting, the minister directed the officials to take strict action against erring telemarketers and individuals involved in harassment of telecom subscribers... Further, the minster observed that telecom resources are also being used to carry out financial frauds and dupe the common man of his hard-earned money. Clear directions were issued to the officials to take strict and tangible action to stop such activities immediately,” the ministry said in a statement. The problem of Vishing has become so acute that the government is considering curtailing telecom operations in Jharkhand’s Jamtara and Haryana’s Mewat, two regions that have become hotspots from where such scams are being carried out, an official said, asking not to be named.

India is among countries hit hardest by spam calls and messages. Caller ID service application Truecaller said Indians were, among people of 20 countries, the ninth most-affected, being targeted with close to 17 spam calls per month last year. While the overall number of spam calls decreased, Truecaller said in its Insights report, the number of scam communications jumped. People in India can sign up for a DND registry that telemarketers need to take into account, but a lack of enforcement has meant that the problem of spam persists nonetheless.

NEW DATA INTELLIGENCE UNIT TO HELP COORDINATE BETWEEN LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES, BANKS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS