Govt disconnects over 88 lakh suspicious mobile connections to tackle cyber frauds
New Delhi, July 23
The Department of Telecommunications has used an artificial intelligence and big data analytics tool to identify and disconnect 88 lakh suspicious mobile connections, as part of measures to tackle cyber frauds, an official statement said on Thursday.
DoT developed the tool namely ASTR which identified these mobile connections that "have been disconnected after failing reverification," Union MoS Communications and Rural Development Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani said in the Rajya Sabha outlining measures taken to tackle cyber frauds.
Further, Chakshu facility of Sanchar Saathi enables citizens to report the suspected fraud communications and it has helped target misuse of telecom resources.
Around 50.90 lakh mobile connections had been disconnected as of July 15, 2026, based on 11.18 lakh crowd‑sourced reports of suspected fraud communications submitted through the Chakshu facility on Sanchar Saathi, the statement from the Ministry of Communications said.
The statement added that DoT uses crowd-sourced data for analysis rather than acting on individual submissions.
Under the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, matters relating to cybercrime are allocated to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
However, DoT has developed Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), for bi-directional information sharing with stakeholders including Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) of MHA for prevention of misuse of telecom resources for cyber-crimes and financial frauds.
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued advisories to its regulated entities for onboarding on DIP for information sharing. DoT has conducted sessions on DIP for the regulated entities of SEBI and more than 50 such entities are on-boarded on DIP, the minister said.
National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC), implemented by CERT-In, examines cyberspace to detect cyber security threats. It shares the information with concerned organizations, state governments and stakeholder agencies for taking action.
— IANS
Reader Comments
My mother got a call last week from someone pretending to be a bank official. She almost gave her OTP. 😤 This is a good step but we need more awareness campaigns in regional languages too. Many elderly people don't understand English fraud warnings.
Impressive numbers but I'm curious about how accurate this AI tool is. False positives could disconnect legitimate users who aren't tech-savvy enough to reverify. Hope there's a proper appeal process for genuine cases.
Chakshu facility is actually useful - I reported a suspicious WhatsApp message there last month. Got a follow-up SMS saying action was taken. But we need more integration with banks and payment apps. Most frauds happen through UPI these days.
Good initiative but why did it take so long? Been hearing about cyber fraud for years. At least the coordination with SEBI and I4C is promising. Though, I worry about privacy implications of this "Digital Intelligence Platform" - hope data security is taken seriously.
Bhai, I got a call saying my number would be disconnected if I didn't pay ₹500. 🤦 Now I wonder if even the government's own numbers are being spoofed. But this ASTR tool sounds promising. Let's see if it actually reduces the menace or just makes headlines.
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