Cybercrime crackdown: TRAI, Telecom Department block 2.27 lakh mobile handsets, cut over 1 crore mobile connections

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Department of Telecom have blocked 2.27 lakh mobile handsets in their latest joint move to control cybercrime.

In an effort to curb pesky callers and fraudsters, the telecom regulator, in association with the Telecom Department, has disconnected over one crore mobile connections, according to an official statement released on Tuesday. 

The statement reads, “Till date, more than 1 crore fraudulent mobile connections have been disconnected with the help of Sancharsaathi. Further, 2.27 lakh mobile handsets have been blocked for involvement in cybercrime /financial frauds,” PTI reported.

Furthermore, in an effort to combat the issue of spam calls, TRAI reportedly instructed telecom operators to disconnect and blacklist entities using bulk connections for such purposes, including robocalls and pre-recorded calls.

The statement added, “In the last fortnight, over 3.5 lakh such numbers have been disconnected, and 50 entities have been blacklisted. In addition, around 3.5 lakh unused and unverified SMS headers and 12 lakh content templates are blocked.”

Moreover, TRAI announced revised regulations and service quality rules, effective from October 1. Instead of the current quarterly monitoring system, monthly monitoring of QoS performance of mobile service will begin from April 1 next year.

On Wednesday, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah took to social media platform X. He said that the Indian Cyber ​​Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has taken several steps to create a secure cyberspace in the country. He further declared that Bollywood's iconic actor Amitabh Bachchan has joined I4C's campaign to build a Cyber-Secure Bharat.

Another key measure to fight cyber fraud is the launch of Sanchar Saathi by the DoT, enabling citizens to report suspicious calls and messages. 

Besides this, the Telecom regulatory authority issued consultation papers on provisions for immediate suspension of services of unregistered telemarketers following complaints beyond a pre-defined threshold number. 

TRAI also called for proactive detection measures to act against suspected spammers.