India has launched a digital platform that will allow people to flag fraudulent calls and text messages, providing additional protection against faceless criminals who use technology to rob people of their money.
The new Chakshu platform, from the Department of Telecommunications, simplifies reporting on fraudulent calls and messages while also allowing for real-time intelligence sharing among multiple stakeholders.
“Chakshu will allow Indian citizens to report fraudulent communication— whether received on call or SMS or social media like WhatsApp. Once such information is received, the platform will trigger re-verification, and failing re-verification the number will be disconnected," Union telecom and IT minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said.
Several cases of fraud have surfaced, with criminals impersonating banks or government officials, encouraging individuals to update their information for bank accounts, gas and electricity connections.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently published its final recommendations to make caller identification a default feature on domestic telecom networks to help individuals protect themselves from fraudsters.
Vaishnaw stated that TRAI is developing an app for Chakshu and that the government is willing to collaborate with private firms such as Truecaller to improve fraud protection on the platform.
Chakshu, which is currently unavailable to individuals, will serve as an information exchange and coordination hub for telecom companies, law enforcement agencies, banks and financial institutions, social media platforms, and authorities issuing identity documents.
The platform will also include information about cases involving the misuse of telecom resources.
According to Vaishnaw, the government will also establish a grievance redressal platform for reporting connections that were inadvertently disconnected, as well as a mechanism for returning frozen funds.
Chakshu will serve as a backend repository for citizen-initiated requests on the Sanchar Saathi platform, awaiting action by various stakeholders.
Sanchar Saathi— which was launched in May of last year to allow people to track or block lost mobile phones and report instances of identity theft— has already assisted in the recovery of over 700,000 phones and the detection of over 6.7 million suspicious communication attempts.
