Explained: How Telecom Regulator Is Cracking Down On Spam, Fraud Calls

Taking action to curb the twin problems of spam calls and fraudsters duping people over the phone, the telecom regulator has directed companies to stop calls from unregistered telemarketers and blacklist them for up to two years.

India has seen a surge in robocalls, which use recorded or computer-generated voices to market something, as well as calls in which consumers are told that their couriers have been stopped by customs or their phones are about to be disconnected. While marketing calls are largely a nuisance, the fraud calls have seen people losing crores and even being made to strip and then blackmailed. 

Going a step further, scamsters have also taken to making robocalls. These begin with a computer-generated voice telling people that the calls are originating from a courier brand or from the government and saying that their courier is stuck, they are being investigated in a case or all their numbers are about to be disconnected - anything that can scare a potential target and lure them in. They are then asked to press a number, after which they are redirected to a fraudster waiting to take advantage of them and clean out their bank accounts. 

Fraud call centres have also sprung up around the country and towns like Jamtara gained notoriety for committing such scams in an unorganised and then organised fashion. The frauds are also committed by pushing schemes promising extravagant returns on investments. 

Clamping Down

In a directive issued on Tuesday, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said it has issued "directives to access providers to disconnect all telecom resources of unregistered senders for making spam calls and to blacklist such senders under the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations, 2018".

Among other things, the regulations mandated that access providers adopt distributed ledger technology (DLT) to register entities, record preferences and handle complaints. 

In a statement, TRAI said all access service providers (telecom companies) have been asked to immediately stop voice promotional calls "whether pre-recorded or computer generated or otherwise from all Unregistered Senders or Telemarketers (UTMs) using SIP/ PRI or other telecom resources". 

"If any unregistered Sender/ Unregistered Telemarketer (UTM) is found to be misusing its Telecom Resources (SIP/ PRI/ other telecom resources) for making commercial voice calls in violation of the regulations resulting into consumer complaints against any one or more number of resource indicators allocated to the sender... all the telecom resources of such sender shall be disconnected by the Originating Access Provider (OAP) for a period up to two years," the statement said.

The access provider has been asked to share details of the blacklisting with all others within 24 hours so that they can take similar action.

TRAI also directed unregistered senders or telemarketers to the DLT platform within a month and submit a compliance report a week after that. All access providers have been asked to submit regular updates on the actions taken by them in this regard on the first and 16th of every month. 

"This decisive action by TRAI is expected to significantly reduce spam calls and provide relief to consumers," the statement said.