India’s three major private telecom players, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi), might come together in a rare feat to combat telecom scams, fraud, and cybercrime.
According to Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom carrier by market share, it recently approached Jio and Vi with a call to action to unite the telecom section against such malicious scams and fraud.
Airtel informed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that it urged the leading carriers to be part of a joint initiative. India saw more than 1.7 million cybercrime complaints in the first three quarters of 2024, amounting to ₹11,000 crore in losses, cited the telecom giant.
From phishing links, ‘digital arrest’ scams, fake loan offers and payment pages, identity theft, and more, India has recently seen a marked surge in cybercrime. Airtel, last week, sent its customers this message: “Airtel is now The Safe Network. Our fraud detection solution blocks scam links before they open, so you stay protected.”
Moreover, for many users, Airtel has been appending ‘scam’ disclaimers ahead of suspected messages for the past month. But the Sunil Mittal-led operator looks to do more. “…given the recent alarming rise in phishing attempts and malicious URL-based scams targeting unsuspecting individuals, it became evident that more coordinated industry action was needed. These sophisticated fraud schemes often exploit the gaps in coordination between service providers,” it said in letters to TRAI Chairman Anil Kumar Lahotia and Telecom Secretary Neeraj Mittal.
“This initiative would bring together all TSPs to collaboratively detect, prevent, and mitigate telecom fraud and scams across our networks through real-time fraud intelligence sharing and cross-network coordination,” Airtel added.
If Jio and Vi join this initiative, all three have a herculean task of combating unsolicited commercial communications (UCC)—that deliver the most scams—without disrupting the enterprise services that legitimately run through the telecom networks. This could mean setting up a centralised data-sharing platform—and that invites further privacy issues. But that is a concern for another day. Right now, it lies on Ambani-led Jio and Vodafone Idea to accept Airtel’s offer for a joint task force against telecommunications-based cybercrime.
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