Centre launches system to block international spoofed calls, curb fraud

The Indian government has launched a new system to block international calls disguised as local numbers, aiming to protect citizens from financial scams and cybercrime

On Tuesday, the government introduced a sophisticated tracking system to track and block international calls disguised as Indian numbers — a deceptive technique frequently used by scammers to commit financial fraud in India. Named the ‘International incoming spoofed calls prevention system’, it was launched by the Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia.

This marks another milestone in the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) ongoing efforts to create a secure digital environment and safeguard citizens from cybercrime, the government said.

How the system safeguards citizens from scam calls

Cybercriminals have developed a tactic that allows international calls to appear as local Indian numbers (e.g., +91-xxxxxxxxx). By altering the calling line identity (CLI), these calls are made to look like they are from within India, even though they originate from abroad.
 

 

This tactic helps fraudsters gain the trust of unsuspecting individuals. These spoofed calls are often used for a range of malicious activities, such as:

1. Financial scams that deceive people into sharing sensitive financial information or making unauthorised payments. Scammers also impersonate government officials, law enforcement officers, or even family members to extract money or data.

2. They may also use threats of legal action, such as falsely accusing victims of illegal activities or imminent arrest, to extort money or manipulate them into compromising situations.

The government said, “These spoofed calls have been used for financial scams, impersonating government officials, and creating panic. There have also been cases of cyber-crime threatening disconnection of mobile numbers by DoT/TRAI officials, fake digital arrests, drugs/narcotics in courier, impersonation as police officials, arrest in sex racket etc.”

The system works by identifying and blocking these fraudulent numbers before scammers can reach their targets. According to government reports, the system started operation on October 17 and it identified and blocked around 13.5 million spoofed calls within the first 24 hours, which accounts for 90 per cent of all incoming international calls.

“Indian telecom subscribers should see a significant reduction in such spoofed calls with +91-xxxxxxx numbers with implementation of this system,” the statement further said.

Centre allocates Rs 38 crore to DoT

In July, the Ministry of Finance allocated Rs 38.76 crore to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for the establishment of the Centralised International Out Roamer (CIOR), the system's initial name. Additionally, funding for the Digital Intelligence Unit (DIU) — a project aimed at investigating the misuse of telecom resources, including scam and spam calls and messages — was raised from Rs 50 crore (revised estimate for FY24) to Rs 85 crore (budget estimate for FY25).