Airtel proposes initiative with Jio, Vi to combat telecom fraud
What's the story
Airtel has pitched a joint plan to tackle the growing menace of telecom fraud in India. The company has sought the support of Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea (Vi).
The proposal comes after over 1.7 million cybercrime complaints and financial losses of over ₹11,000 crore were reported this year alone.
Airtel wants to detect, prevent, and mitigate scams through real-time intelligence sharing and cross-network coordination.
Alarming rise
Surge in cybercrime incidents
The increase in cybercrime complaints is due to more sophisticated tactics employed by cybercriminals, including phishing links, fake loan offers, and fraudulent payment pages.
These have led to an increase in digital fraud and identity theft cases.
Now, in light of this concerning trend, Airtel has stepped up its fight against digital scams by deploying a fraud detection solution to block rogue sites across OTT apps and platforms.
Joint initiative
Call for industry-wide collaboration
Airtel has recognized the need for more coordinated industry action to fight the recent surge in phishing attempts and malicious URL-based scams.
The company said these sophisticated fraud schemes often exploit gaps in coordination between service providers.
To tackle this growing threat of telecom frauds, spam, and scams, Airtel proposed a Joint Telecom Fraud Initiative to all Telecom Service Providers (TSPs).
Collaborative approach
Airtel's previous proposals and future plans
Back in October 2024, Airtel had proposed a joint effort to tackle the problem of Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC).
The proposal involved mutual sharing of details of corporate connections used for commercial calling in a standardized format. This would allow proactive spam monitoring and prevent potential misuse.
Airtel also proposed a centralized data-sharing platform like the existing Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) system to strengthen collective capability to combat UCC without affecting legitimate enterprise services.