The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has announced that it will impose a fine of upto Rs 10,000 per violation on commercial SMS senders who defraud customers by sending fraudulent SMSes with fake headers.
In this regard, the DoT has said that any sender who is caught sending an SMS using invalid header will be fined in the range of Rs 1,000 to Rs 10,000 per violation, plus permanent suspension of the sending mobile number or sender ID, depending on the number of violations.
In addition, DoT has also notified that a Data Intelligence Unit (DIU) will be created at the central level and Telecom Analytics for Fraud Management and Consumer Protection (TAFCOP) at service area field units of the department. Both units will coordinate with different government departments to detect fraud using telecom services, monitor user complaints, identify fake SIM cards with fake ID proofs, detect mobile number portability frauds etc. and ensure timely redressal of all customer grievances. Further, the platform will also provide DoT, law enforcement agencies (LEAs), financial institutions (Fis) and telecom service providers to seamlessly coordinate in cases of financial frauds committed through misuse of telecom resources. Both platforms will collate data of all telecom subscribers across all service providers in all licensed services areas and detect patterns of suspicious connections or activity. Specified algorithms and data analytics will be used to trace all SIMs issued on forged documents to make the telecom subscriber database robust and accurate, DoT said.
Meanwhile, a web-based system and a mobile app called Safe Access of Telecom Resources without Harassment and Infringement (SATHI) will also be created to provide users a platform to register their complaints on unauthorised connections. Users will also be able to see the name and number of a caller on their mobile phone without internet connection. It will be provided by the carrier using the calling line name identification database (CLNID).
