Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) oversees cybercrime matters, while the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) works to prevent misuse of telecom networks for fraud. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) facilitates law enforcement efforts, and the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) enables public reporting of cyber frauds. In 2024, NCRP recorded 19.18 lakh complaints with a financial loss of ₹22,811.95 crore.
DoT, in collaboration with telecom service providers (TSPs), has implemented a system to detect and block international spoofed calls that disguise themselves as domestic calls. Launched on October 17, 2024, the system blocked 1.35 crore spoofed calls within 24 hours. By March 3, 2025, identified spoofed calls had reduced by 97%, with only 4 lakh calls blocked.
To raise public awareness, DoT promotes the Sanchar Saathi portal, which helps users access telecom safety information, report fraudulent communications, and stay updated on cyber fraud prevention. Awareness initiatives include social media campaigns, press releases, SMS alerts, and collaborations with law enforcement, banks, and student volunteers.
Additionally, DoT has developed the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) to facilitate secure information-sharing among 560 stakeholders, including central security agencies, 35 state police departments, TSPs, and I4C. These measures aim to curb telecom-related cybercrimes and enhance consumer safety.
Ministry of Communications
Fake calls and SMS Scams
Matters relating to Cyber Crime are under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as per allocation of the business rules. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) undertakes efforts to prevent misuse of telecom resources for cyber frauds. Further, ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. MHA has established the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (14C) as an attached office to provide a framework and eco-system for Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to deal with cyber-crimes. MHA has also launched the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal- NCRP (https://cybercrime.gov.in) to enable public to report all type of cybercrimes. As per I4C, total number of complaints on NCRP and amount lost were 19.18 lakh and 22811.95 crore respectively in 2024. Further, DoT and Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) have devised a system to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers that appear to be originating from within India. These calls appeared to be originating within India but were being made by the cyber-criminals from abroad by spoofing the Calling Line Identity (CLI).
DoT actively engages with citizens to raise awareness about telecom-related frauds & scams, to encourage the use of the Sanchar Saathi App/portal, a citizen centric initiative for accessing information, reporting suspected fraud communications, and staying updated on the latest telecom safety measures. Engagement with citizens is through robust social media campaigns, regular press releases, SMS campaigns and collaboration with multiple stakeholders like Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs)/Banks/TSPs/Student Volunteers etc.
DoT has developed an online secure Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) for sharing of information related to misuse of telecom resources among the stakeholders for prevention of misuse of telecom resources for cyber-crime and financial frauds. About 560 organizations have been onboarded on DIP that include central security agencies, 35 State Police, TSPs, Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) etc. The system to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers was commissioned on 17.10.2024 and it has shown significant results blocking 1.35 crore calls in 24 hours of its launch, after being identified as spoofed. As on 03.03.2025, calls identified as spoofed and blocked were only 4 lakh so the system has resulted in reduction of almost 97% incoming spoofed calls with Indian CLI.
This information was given by Dr. Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, Minister of State for Communications & Rural Development, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
