There has been a 90% reduction in the number of fraud international calls from Indian numbers, according to the Department of Telecommunication (DoT).

The DoT launched the ‘International Incoming Spoofed Calls Prevention System’ on October 22. The system identifies calls that appear to be originating from within India but are made by the cyber criminals from abroad by manipulating the calling line identity (CLI).

“Within 24 hours of operation of the system, about 1.35 crore or 90% of all incoming international calls with tempered Indian phone numbers were identified and blocked by telecom service providers (TSPs) from reaching Indian subscribers,” DoT said on a statement.

“In the latest reports of December 2024, the spoofed calls identified and blocked with Indian numbers have dipped to about six lakh, indicating that the system has successfully tackled the issue of cyber crimes that were being conducted through calls that were being made from abroad,” it said.

However, fraudsters have now shifted their tactics and are using international numbers, the DoT said. “It is noted that fraudsters are increasingly impersonating government authorities by calling from international numbers that do not start with +91 but start with numbers such as +8, +85, +65 etc. DoT has formed a dedicated task force comprising of various stakeholders that is actively working to address such spoofed calls,” the statement further stated.

One of the recommendations of the task force was that TSPs should display ‘International Call’ to the subscribers whenever any call from outside the country is received. This will help the users to understand that such calls cannot be from Indian authorities or organisations like TRAI, police, income tax, etc.

One TSP has implemented the technical solution and has already started displaying ‘International Call’ for all calls received from outside the country. Other TSPs are exploring the technical feasibility for implementing the same, officials said.

The DoT has advised citizens that they should show caution with respect to answering calls from unfamiliar international numbers, which do not starting with +91 and which claims to be from government authorities.

The DoT said it has been taking proactive measures towards strengthening its capacity to curb misuse of telecom resources in cyber frauds and cyber-crimes.