New Delhi, May 27: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), under the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, announced on Monday that it has taken action against more than 10,000 fraudulent messages sent using eight SMS headers over the past three months.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the DoT has implemented measures to protect citizens from potential SMS fraud through the Sanchar Saathi initiative.
SMS headers, also known as sender IDs, can be of three types: alpha, numeric, and shortcode.
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the MHA provided the DoT with information regarding the misuse of eight SMS headers used to send fraudulent communications for cybercrime activities.
In response, the DoT blacklisted the ‘Principal Entities’ that owned these eight SMS headers. Additionally, the DoT blacklisted all 73 SMS headers and 1,522 SMS content templates associated with these Principal Entities.
“None of these Principal Entities, SMS headers, or templates can now be used to send SMS through any telecom operator,” stated the DoT.
This action has prevented further potential victimization of citizens by blocking these entities from sending fraudulent messages.
Citizens can report suspected fraudulent communications using the Chakshu facility on the Sanchar Saathi platform to assist the DoT in preventing the misuse of telecom resources for cybercrime and financial fraud.
Earlier this month, the DoT directed telecom service providers (TSPs) to block 28,200 mobile handsets and re-verify 20 lakh associated mobile connections, furthering their efforts to combat cybercrime and protect consumers.
