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According to an official statement on May 10, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has ordered telecom operators to block 28,200 mobile phones and immediately re-verify 20 lakh mobile connections for their alleged link with cybercrime.
The DoT, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and state police have come together to curb misuse of telecom resources in cybercrime and financial fraud with the aim of eliminating fraudster networks and protecting citizens from digital threats, he said.
“An analysis by MHA and state police found that 28,200 mobile phones were misused in cyber crimes. The DoT conducted further analysis and found that a staggering 20 lakh numbers were used in these mobile phones.
“Thereafter, DoT issued instructions to telecom service providers to block 28,200 mobile phones across India and conduct immediate re-verification of 20 lakh mobile connections connected to these mobile phones and disconnect them in case of failure of re-verification,” the statement said.
The DoT launched the Chakshu portal two months ago to resolve complaints related to telecom scams.
Since the launch of the portal, the department has blacklisted 52 entities involved in sending malicious and phishing SMSes, blocked 348 mobile phones across the country and marked 10,834 suspicious mobile numbers for re-verification.
Apart from this, the DoT has blocked a mobile device’s unique identification number worth 1.58 lakh IMEI due to its involvement in cyber crimes and financial frauds or mobile calls made on imitation or forged documents.
Till April 30 this year, DoT had disconnected 1.66 crore mobile connections, of which 30.14 thousand lakh were disconnected based on user feedback and 53.78 thousand. for exceeding the individual limit for purchasing fresh SIM cards, according to official data.
