Chakshu & DIP: Govt Activates New Defence Against Suspicious Calls and Texts to Fight Scams

Following the success of the Sanchar Saathi portal, which facilitated the discontinuation of over 1 crore fraudulent connections and safeguarded Rs 1,000 crore in citizens’ money since its launch in May last year, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has introduced two new initiatives for stakeholders and citizens.

Minister of Communications and Electronics & IT Ashwini Vaishnaw, along with MoS Devusinh Chauhan, unveiled the ‘Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP)’ to foster collaboration among stakeholders in combatting the misuse of telecom resources in cyber-crime and financial frauds. Additionally, they launched ‘Chakshu’, now accessible through the Sanchar Saathi website, to empower citizens to proactively report suspected fraudulent communications.

Named after the Hindi word for “eye”, ‘Chakshu’ enables citizens to report fraudulent communications received via calls, SMS, or platforms like WhatsApp. Upon receiving such reports, the platform initiates re-verification procedures, and on failing that, the number in question will be disconnected. The government assures that usernames and details will remain confidential and will not be shared with any third party.

Complaint Registration in Chakshu

Here are the steps to raise a complaint on the Chakshu platform:

• Go to the Sanchar Saathi website.
• Select ‘Report Suspected Fraud Communication- Chakshu’.
• A new window will open where you will find details about Chakshu. Select ‘Continue for Reporting’.
• Select the medium of the suspected fraud (Call, SMS & WhatsApp)
• Share the communication details such as whether it was a KYC or insurance fraud, fake customer care, online job or lottery, or robo communication.
• You need to attach relevant screenshots as well as provide the date and time.
• Further, you have to write complaint details in a box.
• Share your name and contact number in the given box.
• Finally, with OTP verification, you can submit the complaint.

The portal also notes that if a citizen has fallen victim to cyber-crime or financial fraud, it is strongly recommended to report the incident to the cyber-crime helpline at 1930 or visit the Government of India’s website at https://www.cybercrime.gov.in.

Commenting on the initiatives, Lt. Gen. Dr SP Kochhar, Director General of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), said: “Chakshu is a path-breaking initiative to help mitigate the increasing number of cyber frauds in today’s fast-growing digital era. We firmly believe that critical issues like cyber fraud require all stakeholders to work together to truly make an impact on the ground.”

“Today’s initiative would help channel our citizens come on a single platform led by the government and actively contribute by sharing knowledge to help prevent such undesired and malicious activities. We are optimistic that the people will immensely benefit from this initiative and COAI will wholeheartedly promote and support this initiative to benefit all telecom consumers,” he added.

What is the Digital Intelligence Platform

The Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), also developed by the DoT, will serve as a secure and integrated hub facilitating real-time intelligence sharing and coordination among stakeholders, including Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), law enforcement agencies (LEAs), banks, financial institutions (FIs), social media platforms, and identity document issuing authorities.

It will also house data on telecom resource misuse cases, aiding stakeholders in their respective domains. Moreover, it will act as a backend repository for citizen-initiated requests on the Sanchar Saathi portal, accessible only to authorised stakeholders via secure connectivity, and disseminate relevant information based on their roles.

Traditionally, cyber fraud often involves the use of a single mobile connection across multiple platforms. For instance, the same number might be utilised on WhatsApp and PhonePe, leading various organisations to block such numbers for legal violations.

However, there has been a lack of a unified platform for sharing data on suspected fraudulent connections. DIP addresses this gap by providing a single platform where entities like banks, payment wallets, law enforcement agencies, and other user agencies such as IRCTC can report suspicious numbers.

As per the government, the telecommunications service providers or TSPs are then required to conduct re-verification of these numbers, which would lead to disconnection if they find any flaw. Disconnected numbers are subsequently added to a master list, which banks/wallets can cross-check against their databases to prevent fraud.

Union Minister Vaishnaw announced that the department is presently engaged in developing a grievance redressal portal for reporting erroneously disconnected connections and facilitating the return of frozen funds to citizens in collaboration with the RBI and the Department of Financial Services. Additionally, the minister highlighted the imminent launch of the Sanchar Saathi app.