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DoT reduces international spoof calls by 90% in two months

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Following the launch of the Indian Department of Telecom’s “International Incoming Spoofed Calls Prevention System” on October 22, 2024, a new press release from the department now claims that the system was able to detect around 1.35 crore or 13.5 million international incoming calls with tempered Indian phone numbers as spoof calls. These represent around 90 percent of all incoming international calls.

The calls were identified and promptly blocked by the telecom service providers (TSP). The department claims that as per the latest reports published in December 2024, the number of spoofed calls has since dropped to only 600,000. These spoofed calls pose a big threat to the unsuspecting public as they’ve been used in cybercrime like threatening disconnection of mobile numbers by fraudsters impersonating DoT/TRAI officials, fake digital arrests, drugs/narcotics in courier, impersonation as police officials, and arrest in sex racket.

Although the system has successfully reduced the number of spoofed international calls, the DoT has warned that scammers are now using international phone numbers starting with +8, +85, and +65, among other extensions. A dedicated task force has been created to tackle this and includes stakeholders, which recommends that TSPs label all incoming international calls. Only Airtel has implemented this at the time of writing, with other TSPs yet to follow.

The system isn’t perfect, however. For starters, there’s little to no information on how the system works. The system can also mistakenly identify a legitimate call as spoofed if the caller’s number matches the pattern of numbers previously known to be spoofed or otherwise flagged by the system. There’s much critical information missing about the system’s internal workings and how it tells legitimate calls apart from fake ones that could negatively impact legitimate callers.

The DoT has been hard at work all year implementing a two-tier system to detect and block incoming international spoofed calls. Additionally, it also blocked 1.92 crore SIM cards and 2.2 lakh mobile devices with specific IMEI numbers across India to counter the burgeoning threat of cybercrime.

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Yadullah Abidi

Yadullah Abidi

Yadullah is a Computer Science graduate who writes/edits/shoots/codes all things cybersecurity, gaming, and tech hardware. When he's not, he streams himself racing virtual cars. He's been writing and reporting on tech and cybersecurity with websites like Candid.Technology and MakeUseOf since 2018. You can contact him here: yadullahabidi@pm.me.

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