DoT and SEBI Signs an Agreement to Curb Telecom-Related Financial Frauds

As digital investments grow in India, cyber fraud cases are also increasing. To address this, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) have signed an important MoU to curb misuse of telecom services and tackle investment scams.

Agreement signing and key officials

The agreement (MoU) was signed by Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, Deputy Director General, AI and Digital Intelligence Unit of DoT; Sandeep Pradhan, Whole Time Member, SEBI; and Deb Kumar Chakraborty, Member (Services), Digital Communications Commission, who were also present on this occasion.

Preventing fraud through data sharing

The main basis of this agreement is an organised data-sharing arrangement. Under this, DoT will provide a Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) to SEBI, through which suspicious mobile numbers can be identified. The Mobile Number Revocation List (MNRL) will also be shared, which will ensure that investors’ accounts are linked only to active and valid mobile numbers.

SEBI will also share information about those telecom resources that are found to be involved in cyber fraud, fake identity, or money mule activities. This will make quick action possible at the telecom level. This entire information exchange will be done through the DoT Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), which already facilitates real-time information sharing by connecting more than 1400 entities.

Proactive system for investor protection

With this collaboration, action against financial fraud can now be taken at the prevention level, not just after the incident. FRI will act as an early warning system, identifying suspicious mobile connections in advance.

Under the ‘Sanchar Sathi’ initiative of DoT, more than 88 lakh fake mobile connections have been closed so far. Along with this, a potential loss of about Rs 2300 crore has been prevented in the last 10 months by the use of FRI. Under this agreement, standard procedures will be developed for joint action in the future, and suspicious signals will be exchanged at the institutional level. Through continued collaboration and use of new technologies, this initiative will prove instrumental in strengthening trust in India’s digital and financial system.