Parliament Question: Citizen Safety & Sanchar Saathi 2.0

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5503 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25TH MARCH, 2026 CITIZEN SAFETY & SANCHAR SAATHI 2.0

5503. SHRI BALABHADRA MAJHI:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) whether more than 4.7 million lost or stolen mobile handsets have been successfully blocked during 2025-26 through the Sanchar Saathi portal and if so, the details thereof particularly Nabarangpur Lok Sabha Constituency of Odisha;

(b) the manner in which Chakshu facility has assisted citizens in reporting over 8.5 lakh suspected fraudulent communications received through WhatsApp and whether complaints from Nabarangpur Lok Sabha Constituency have been recorded and if so, the details thereof;

(c) the specific impact of the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) in preventing losses to UPI service users;

(d) whether the Government has successfully disconnected over three crore fake mobile connections using Artificial Intelligence-based facial recognition tools; and

(e) the number of international calls masked as local numbers that were identified and blocked during the year 2025–26 based on citizens’ reports, particularly with reference to Nabarangpur Lok Sabha Constituency? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. PEMMASANI CHANDRA SEKHAR)

(a) Sanchar Saathi portal (www.sancharsaathi.gov.in) and mobile app of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) facilitates citizens to report lost/ stolen mobile handsets. Reported mobile handsets are blocked in Indian telecom network. State/ Union Territory-wise statistics for mobile handsets blocked have been made available on the Sanchar Saathi portal for citizens. Lok Sabha constituency wise data is not maintained. However, 391 mobile handsets have been blocked in Nabarangpur district till date.

(b) Chakshu facility of Sanchar Saathi enables citizens to report the suspected fraud communications received through call, SMS or WhatsApp. Till date, citizens have shared 8.82 lakh suspected fraud communications related inputs on Sanchar Saathi. Lok Sabha constituency wise data is not maintained.

(c) Since launch of Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) in May 2025, financial institutions including Unified Payments Interface (UPI) service providers have reported that based on transaction decline and alert or notifications given to citizens, potential frauds amounting to over ₹1,900 crore have been prevented utilizing FRI.

1(d) DoT has developed ASTR which is an artificial intelligence and big data analytics tool that identifies suspicious mobile connections. Such numbers are shared with Telecom Service Providers

(TSPs) through Digital Intelligence Platform. More than 88 lakh such mobile connections have been disconnected after failing reverification.

(e) DoT has developed International Incoming Spoofed Calls Prevention System (CIOR) which is a system to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers that appear to be originating within India. Since its commissioning on 17.10.2024, CIOR has shown significant results, blocking 1.35 crore calls in 24 hours and has resulted in nearly 99% reduction in spoofed calls with Indian calling line identification. Calls that still land on international gateways are blocked there itself. Lok Sabha constituency wise data for blocking of such calls is not maintained.

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