Government launches 160-phone series for financial institutions to combat fraud

New Delhi: The Indian government has allocated 160 designated mobile phone series exclusively for transactional and service-related voice calls by financial institutions in an effort to combat the increasing prevalence of financial fraud. This action intends to shield citizens from scammers by making it simple for them to recognise calls from banks, insurance companies, and other financial entities.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is leading this initiative, which involves cooperation with important financial regulators like the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). With this move, the authorities are intent to establish a clear distinction among genuine calls from financial institutions as opposed to calls made by fraudsters.

The Ministry of Communications also disclosed that the 140 phone series currently in use for promotional calls is being moved to a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. This shift, combined with stricter digital consent protocols, is expected to significantly reduce spam calls generated by 10-digit numbers.

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