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Business News/ Industry / Telecom/  Mobile users may get relief from spam texts
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Mobile users may get relief from spam texts

India ranks among the top five countries most affected by spam messages

Swindlers have become more sophisticated and are increasingly using innovative ways to lure consumers. Mint Premium
Swindlers have become more sophisticated and are increasingly using innovative ways to lure consumers. Mint

Tanla Platforms Ltd is in talks with more Indian telecom operators to offer its anti-phishing solution on text messages that it claims will reduce the growing number of spam, smishing, and phishing cases, which impact millions of mobile phone users daily.

 

Chief executive Uday Reddy said in an interview that one of the telcos is already using the solution called Wisely ATP on its network. He didn’t name the company.

Reddy said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is testing the platform for its efficacy. “It will be deployed as part of the telecom service providers’ core network, by which the AI/ML engine can monitor all messages while complying with data security and privacy rules," he said. 

He added that the solution’s API would be opened up to different apps so they can create their own solutions. “We’ve tied up with Truecaller with its 230-240 million users. If anyone is scamming Truecaller user in India, our platform will alert them," he said.  Globally, $55 billion has been siphoned off by phishing attacks. India is among the top five countries being inflicted with spam; the others being the US and UK, where 3 out of 10 people are attacked by phishing every month. 

Telecom regulator, Trai, is doubling down on reducing the rising cases of spam and phishing adversely affecting  mobile phone users through unsolicited communications. Last week, it issued directives to telcos to reverify the SMS headers under which commercial SMS messages were being sent since the regulator’s existing systems were being circumvented to deliver spam messages.

Trai also ordered telcos to disallow commercial calls and texts from being placed using regular mobile numbers. 

While these regulations are among the strictest in the world, swindlers have become more sophisticated and are increasingly using innovative ways to lure consumers. One of the popular ways is sending cautionary messages of users’ electricity bill default and warning of disconnection, followed by a link to make the required payment. Yet another is pretending to be a credit card company or bank, and asking users to verify their KYC (know your customer) details to ensure continuity of services. 

Nitin Singhal, managing director of Sinch India, a cloud communications firm, said while companies like itself had anti-phishing and firewall tech capabilities that have been provided to many telcos globally, it was not introducing it in India since domestic telcos already had the capabilities.

“Trai’s directions to stop the misuse of headers and message templates and to curb unauthorized promotions using telecom resources is a positive step in the interest of consumers, and would prevent them from receiving undesired communications," said S.P. Kochhar, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India, which represents telcos Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gulveen Aulakh
Gulveen covers both corporate and economy, and policy sections of Mint. She also covers telecom, IT from the corporate side and disinvestment, finance ministry from the economy side. Gulveen finds the rare mix of sectors she covers to be incredibly interesting.
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Published: 27 Feb 2023, 11:42 PM IST
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