New Delhi: The government on Tuesday said artificial intelligence-based systems were deployed to weed out mobile phone connections obtained using fake identities and about 37 lakh connections have been disconnected so far.
According to data shared by the Telecom Ministry, the maximum number of SIMs were disconnected in West Bengal (over 12.34 lakh), followed by Haryana (over 5.24 lakh), Bihar and Jharkhand (over 3.27 lakh), Madhya Pradesh is the location of (More than 2.28 lakh SIMs) and Uttar Pradesh-East (More than 2.04 lakh SIMs).
Additionally, the Center also announced the launch of the Sanchar Saathi portal, through which mobile users can check mobile connections issued in their names, connections not required, disconnects, lost mobile phones, etc. block/trace, and verify the genuineness of equipment when buying new or refurbished. Second hand mobile phone.
IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said at a press conference, “Our focus is on consumer protection and security and with that objective we have announced some consumer-oriented reforms today.”
These reforms, the minister said, include the introduction of a Centralized Identified Equipment Register (CEIR), which will help trace and block lost/stolen mobile devices, and setting up of Fraud Management and Consumer Protection (TAFCOP). Telecom analytics for the same which will enable a mobile subscriber to check the number of mobile connections taken in his name and disconnect unwanted connections has been asked.
“We are also deploying an AI-based system – ASTR – to find out how many numbers have been taken using the same identity,” the minister said. After which 40 lakh suspected fake connections were found and out of these 36 lakh connections have been disconnected.
“I will share with you two extreme examples. In one case a person got 5,300 connections using the same picture with different names and in another case a person got 6,800 connections in the same way. Such discrepancies in ASTR has the ability to detect,” Vaishnav said.
He said the government has blacklisted more than 40,000 Point of Sale (PoS) to stop the sale of such connections.
Responding to a query on spam/fraudulent calls received on WhatsApp, the minister said the government is working with the tech firm to de-register numbers found to be bogus from its platform.
Commenting on Vaishnav’s acknowledgment of its commitment to user security, a WhatsApp spokesperson said the company was actively engaged with the government to ensure a continued safe and secure user experience, which included blocking bad actors. Was.
“WhatsApp is a leader among end-to-end encrypted services in protecting user security and we continue to provide multiple built-in security tools such as block and report, two-step verification, along with regularly driving user security education and awareness. Are. ,” the spokesperson added.
(Edited by Tony Rae)