Under its continuous efforts to deal with spam calls and cyber fraud, the Department of Telecommunications has cut around 1.75 lakh Direct Inward Dialing (DID)/landline telephone numbers, which were found to be involved in unauthorized promotional activities and illegal activities, a release by the Ministry of Communications.

Recently it has been observed that a large number of spam calls are being made from the numbers of numbers starting from 0731, 079,080 etc. by misusing PRI, lease line, internet lease line, SIP and IPLC. Under public participation, the citizens are reporting such cases of unwanted commercial communication (UCC)/spam/fraud calls on the module of the communication partner.

The Department of Telecommunications analyzes this crowd-sourced data to take action against such telecom resources. The identified cases are sent to the regional offices of the licensed service areas (LSA) of the Department of Telecommunications for detailed investigation. In cases where violations are confirmed, telecom services of those involved in unauthorized publicity activities are suspended.

Telecom Services Providers (TSP) have been advised to take immediate necessary steps to ensure compliance of integrated license conditions to preventing misuse of PRIs including SIP trunk, lease line, internet lease line, IPLC etc. and should take immediate checking of their actual use.

Call for action for enterprises/bulk customers:

The Department of Telecommunications calls for enterprises/bulk customers/consumers to ensure that their telecom services are used in compliance with established regulations, so that any misuse for unwanted commercial communication can be avoided. Violation can result in severe punishment, including disconnection of services.

Additionally, the Department of Telecommunications encourages citizens to continue reporting spam calls through the Chakshu module of the Communication Partner (www.sancharsaathi.gov.in), which promotes a collaborative effort to make telecom services more secure and user friendly. The department is dedicated to strict monitoring and quick action against UCC violations to protect consumer interests.

Citizens can use the Communication Partner app to report misuse of telecom resources in cyber crime and cyber fraud, the Ministry of Communications said.