The government has directed telecom operators to block all incoming international spoofed calls that display Indian mobile numbers.

What is caller ID spoofing?

• On the display screen of the phone, Calling Line Identification (CLI) allows the user to see the telephone number of the person calling before you answer your phone.

• CLI overstamping allows the person calling you to display a different number from the number they are calling from.

• Caller ID spoofing is when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity. 

• Spoofing is often used as part of an attempt to trick someone into giving away valuable personal information so it can be used in fraudulent activity.

• Typically, these callers are located overseas and may be impersonating a bank, a government agency or a telecommunications provider to get your personal or financially sensitive information for illegitimate purposes.

• The Department of Telecom (DoT) said that it has been reported that fraudsters are making international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers to Indian citizens and committing cybercrime and financial frauds.

• Such calls appear to be originating within India but are being made by cybercriminals from abroad by manipulating the Calling Line Identification and have been misused in recent cases of fake digital arrests, parcel scams, drugs or narcotics in courier, impersonation as government and police officials, disconnections of mobile numbers by DoT or TRAI officials, etc.

New mechanism to block spoofed calls

• DoT and Telecom Service Providers have devised a system to identify and block such international spoofed calls from reaching any Indian telecom subscriber. Now directions have been issued to the Telecom Service Providers for blocking such incoming international spoofed calls.

• The incoming international spoofed calls with Indian landline numbers are being blocked by the Telecom Service Providers as per the directions issued by DoT.

• Last week, the DoT issued directives to the telecom operators to carry out immediate re-verification of 6.8 lakh mobile numbers within 60 days that are suspected to have been obtained using invalid, non-existent, or fake documents.

• The department has flagged around 6.80 lakh mobile connections as potentially fraudulent after advanced AI-driven analysis.

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