DoT Pushes for 'International Call' Display to Combat Cyber Scams

New Delhi: In a bid to curb cyber scams, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has directed telecom service providers to display the tag ‘international call’ on phones when subscribers receive calls from outside India. 

The initiative aims to tackle fraudsters who impersonate Indian government authorities and other entities to deceive citizens, the department announced in a press release on Tuesday.  

Bharti Airtel has already implemented this measure, while other telecom operators are assessing its feasibility. This recommendation stems from a dedicated task force created by the DoT to address the growing issue of scam calls originating from abroad.  

The DoT reported that its “International Incoming Spoofed Calls Prevention System,” launched in October, has drastically reduced the number of spoofed calls—calls originating from outside India but displaying an Indian number on the caller ID. 

The system identified and blocked 95.6% of such calls, dropping from 13.5 million daily in October to about 600,000 in December.  

The DoT noted this decline as evidence of the system’s effectiveness in countering cybercrimes facilitated by tampered calling line identities (CLI). These spoofed calls have been used by scammers posing as police officers, courier service representatives, and other entities to target unsuspecting individuals in India.  

In October, India’s international long-distance networks handled around 15 million calls daily that displayed a +91 number on caller IDs. Shockingly, 90% of these calls were spoofed, originating from non-Indian numbers but masquerading as domestic calls.