DoT cracks down on spam calls, blocks 1.75 lakh numbers

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has announced that it has disconnected approximately 1.75 lakh Direct Inward Dialing (DID)/landline telephone numbers that were found to be involved in unauthorized promotional activities and illegal activities.

The move was part of DoT’s ongoing efforts to combat spam calls and cyber fraud. The body cited reports received from citizens regarding Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC), spam, and fraud calls on the Chakshu module of the Sanchar Saathi portal.

With further investigation, it has been observed that a large number of spam calls are originating from telecom identifiers like numbers starting from 0731, 079,080, etc., by misusing PRIs, Lease Lines, Internet Lease Lines, SIP, and IPLC.

DoT has assured that it’s constantly analysing this crowd-sourced data to act against such telecom resources and has forwarded to the DoT’s field offices Licensed Service Areas (LSAs) for detailed investigation.

Additionally, TSPs have been advised to strictly comply with Unified License conditions to prevent the misuse of PRIs, SIP trunks, Lease Lines, and IPLC, ensuring their legitimate use through regular checks.

If you encounter such spam call issues, you can utilize the Chakshu module of the Sanchar Saathi portal. You can also install the Sanchar Sathi App, available on both Android and iOS platforms, to report misuse of telecom resources in cybercrime and cyber fraud.