Cyber fraud stopped at source: How India’s FRI system saved ₹5,000 crore—and 6 steps to protect your money

What if your money could be saved before a cyber fraud takes place? A government-backed system is working to do just that by identifying potentially risky mobile numbers and helping financial institutions flag suspicious transactions before the money leaves customers' accounts.

The Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) developed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has helped prevent suspected cyber fraud losses of more than ₹5,000 crore in the 15 months since its launch on 22 May 2025, according to a Ministry of Communications press release dated 8 September 2026.

The cumulative suspected fraud losses prevented through FRI reached ₹5,043.73 crore by August 2026, marking a sharp increase from ₹139.16 crore in August 2025.

In simple terms, the system aims to stop fraud before the money is lost, rather than relying on banks and authorities to trace, freeze, and recover funds later.

What is the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator?

FRI is a real-time risk assessment framework developed by DoT under its Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP). It assesses whether a mobile number is potentially linked to cybercrime or financial fraud.

Based on multiple intelligence inputs, mobile numbers are classified as:

• Medium risk
• High risk
• Very High risk

The classification uses inputs from citizen reports on Sanchar Saathi, the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre’s National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), and intelligence from telecom operators, banks, financial institutions, and other telecom-related parameters.

DoT shares this intelligence data with banks, payment service providers, insurers, securities intermediaries, and pension sector entities. They use these risk signals during customer onboarding, transaction monitoring, and fraud detection to identify high-risk transactions before losses occur, according to the release.

How does FRI protect your money?

FRI shifts fraud management from a reactive to a proactive and preventive model. An FRI check is completed in a fraction of a second when a payment is initiated.

Banks and UPI service providers use the risk signal to stop or flag transactions involving high- and very-high-risk mobile numbers in real time. This prevents the need to file complaints, investigations, account freezes, and money tracing after fraud occurs.

How can you help flag potential fraud?

According to the release, the success of FRI also depends on Jan Bhagidari (citizen participation). Reporting suspicious calls or messages on the Sanchar Saathi portal or mobile app adds to the intelligence used by FRI to identify potential fraud.

What should you do to protect your money?

The DoT advises citizens to:

1. Take payment warnings seriously. If your bank or UPI app cautions you about a number, pause and independently verify it.
2. Report suspicious calls, SMS or WhatsApp messages through Chakshu on the Sanchar Saathi portal or app.3.
3. Call 1930 immediately in case of financial cyber fraud and report it on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal.
4. Check mobile connections issued in your name on Sanchar Saathi and report those you do not recognise.
5. Report lost or stolen handsets through Sanchar Saathi so they can be blocked and traced.
6. Check the genuineness of a mobile handset before buying it.

Disclaimer: This is for informational purposes only. Please visit the official website for the latest updates.