The Department of Telecom (DoT) has urged the citizens to exercise caution against the rising incidents of mobile phone frauds in the country.
Talking to newspersons in Lucknow yesterday, Arun Kumar Verma, Additional Director General (Telecom), Uttar Pradesh (East), DoT, shared information about the department’s various citizen-centric initiatives.
He also released two public awareness posters titled ‘Beware of Mobile SIM Frauds’ and ‘Beware of Mobile Phone Frauds’. The posters communicate that, under the Telecommunications Act 2023, obtaining a SIM card using fake documents is a punishable offense.
Additionally, tampering with or unauthorised use of a mobile handset’s IMEI is also considered a serious crime.
These offenses can lead to imprisonment of up to 3 years, a fine of up to ₹50 lakh, or both under the Act, he said.
The Sanchar Saathi portal/app offers several citizen-centric services such as reporting lost/stolen mobile phones; reporting suspicious frauds and Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC); viewing information about SIM cards; verifying the authenticity of a mobile handset’s IMEI; checking trusted contact information etc.
Verma said in case of lost or stolen phones, the citizens should file a police complaint, request a new SIM card from their telecom provider, and report the incident on the Sanchar Saathi portal/app.
As of August 31, 2025, more than 191,000 mobile handsets have been blocked through the Sanchar Saathi portal in 48 districts of UP (East), and 29,741 handsets recovered.
He said at the national level, UP ranks third in mobile handset recoveries.
Using its Digital Intelligence Platform, the DoT has developed a dynamic Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) for mobile numbers.
This tool is based on inputs from the NCRP portal, Sanchar Saathi portal, and data from financial institutions. It warn users about potential risks (like medium or high fraud risk) associated with mobile numbers before making any financial transactions, thereby alerting them to possible cyber fraud.
The RBI had mandated banks and financial institutions to adopt this system by June 30, 2025.
Platforms such as PhonePe, Paytm, and banks including Punjab National Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Canara Bank, YES Bank, Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank, and others have already implemented it.
This enables users to be informed about potential cyber fraud risks even before transferring money.