Stay scam-free: This series of phone numbers will help you spot fraud calls

The Department of Telecom has designated the prefix '160' for 10-digit numbers, which will be utilised by govt agencies, regulatory bodies, and financial institutions to communicate with the public

In a bid to deal with the rising instances of phone call-based fraud, the Centre has issued a separate 10-digit number series to help people differentiate legitimate calls from fake ones.

The Department of Telecom has designated the prefix '160' for 10-digit numbers, which will be utilised by government agencies, regulatory bodies, and financial institutions to communicate with the public.

The official note said, "It has been decided to allocate a separate numbering series 160 exclusively for service and transactional voice calls as per Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation (TCCCPR) 2018."

How to identify government-linked calls?

The introduction of the designated '160' prefix means that incoming calls from the phone numbers which start with '160' are an official number.

For instance, if the users receive any incoming calls from someone claiming to be a "government official" but the phone number used by them to make the call does not start with '160' - then it is a fraudster masquerading as a government official.

Tracing location, identity of caller

DoT's move is also aimed at helping the users to know who's calling them and from where, by making the area code and telecom operator visible.

This will be done by presenting the new set of 160-prefixed numbers in a specified format.

The new set of phone numbers will be visible to the users on their mobile screens in '1600ABCXXX' format.

Here, AB will show the code of the telecom circle - such as 11 for Delhi, 22 for Mumbai. Further 'C' is meant to show the code of the telecom operator. The XXX will be digits between 000-999.

To be clear, incoming calls from this phone number series format will be used by the government and regulators.

Identifying calls made by financial organisations

For financial entities regulated by the Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), PFRDA (Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority) and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), a similar phone number format with '160' prefixes will be used but with a slight change.

The 10-digit number will be issued in the '1601ABCXXX' format, differing from government-related calls only in the placement of the digit '1' instead of '0' in the fourth position.

The Telecom service provider will allot the numbers

"The TSP (telecom service provider) shall ensure adequate verification of each and every entity before assigning a number from 160 series, The TSP shall obtain an undertaking from the seeking entity that it will use the number assigned from 160 series exclusively for service and transactional voice calls as per TCCCPR 2018," the note said.

There are a total of 1.19 billion telecom subscribers in India as of February 2024, according to a TRAI. Reliance Jio Infocomm is the top service provider in India boasting a share of 52.2 per cent of all subscribers.