On spam calls, minister's warning: ‘Never pick up unknown number, respond only…’
The minister's advice came amid the growing menace of spam calls and cases of cyber fraud.
Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday urged people not to receive mobile phone calls from “unknown numbers” amid the growing menace of spam calls and cyber frauds.
India is among the countries hit hardest by spam calls and messages. Caller ID service application Truecaller said Indians were the ninth most affected among people from 20 countries being targeted by spam calls, according to a set of data it released in 2021.
Responding to a question on spam calls and cyber frauds, the telecom minister said, “People should never pick up calls made from unknown numbers. I request every citizen that they should respond to calls from only (telephone/mobile) those numbers they recognise.”
The minister added that people should respond to unknown numbers only if an identification message is sent from such callers.
Vaishnaw said his ministry had recently launched the 'Sanchar Saathi' portal to prevent spam calls and cyber frauds. Over 40 lakh wrong SIMs and 41,000 wrong "points of sale" agents were blacklisted, he added.
The use of artificial intelligence has helped significantly to reduce these cases, he said.
Cases of cyber fraud
A family from north Delhi lost more than ₹4 lakh to cyber criminals who duped them on the pretext of getting a close relative released from a prison in Australia. In another case of cyber fraud, a 40-year-old woman from southwest Delhi allegedly lost ₹90,000 after downloading an app as asked by cyber crooks. The cyber fraud victim was lured by a ‘buy one thali (food plate), get another free’ offer.
Spam calls on WhatsApp
In recent weeks, WhatsApp users have also complained about getting increased numbers of spam calls with several different country codes. The Union government said last month that it will send a notice to the messaging and calling service to look into the issue, terming it as misuse and a breach of users’ privacy.
“I have said repeatedly that openness trust, safety and accountability are the responsibility of platforms who deliver to digital nagriks,” the junior minister for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar noted.
“If there is an issue of spam, it is certainly an issue WhatsApp should look at or any messenger platform should look at. The government will respond to every alleged misuse or alleged breach of privacy.”
