Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Communications, Railways and Electronics & IT, on Tuesday, launched the Sanchar Saathi portal, an initiative of the Department of Telecommunications to protect the 117 crore subscribers of mobile telecom.

The Ministry of Communications stated that in India, being the second largest telecom ecosystem in the world, in addition to communication, mobile phones are being used for banking, entertainment, e-learning, healthcare, availing government services, etc. It is therefore crucial that the users are protected from various frauds such as identity theft, forged KYC, theft of mobile devices, banking frauds, etc.

The Sanchar Saathi portal has four modules:

• 1. Centralized Equipment Identity Register (CEIR)
  • a) In case any mobile device is stolen or lost, a user can submit the IMEI numbers on the portal.
  • b) Information submitted by user along with a copy of police complaint is then verified.
  • c) The system is integrated with the Telecom Service Providers and Law enforcement Agencies.
  • d) Once the information is verified, the system blocks the stolen mobile phones from being used in Indian networks.
  • e) In case anyone tries to use the stolen device, the system allows Law Enforcement Agencies to trace the device.
  • f) When the stolen device is recovered, the user can unlock the device on the portal.
  • g) The system prevents use of stolen/lost mobiles.
  • h) It also prevents mobile devices with inaccurate or forged IMEIs being used in Indian networks.
• 2. Know Your Mobile
  • a) It facilitates the citizens to check the genuineness of IMEI of their mobile device.
• 3. Telecom Analytics for Fraud Management and Consumer Protection (TAFCOP)
  • c) It facilitates a user to check the number of mobile connections taken in her/him name using paper-based documents.
  • d) User enters her mobile number on the portal and authenticates using OTP.
  • e) The system shows the total connections taken in her name using paper-based documents (such as paper based Aadhar, passport, etc.)
  • f) The system allows users to report fraudulent connections.
  • g) It also allows users to block the connections which are not required.
  • h) Once reported by the users, the system triggers re-verification process, and the connections are terminated.

Download Nagaland Tribune app on Google Play

• 4. ASTR (Artificial Intelligence and Facial Recognition powered Solution for Telecom SIM Subscriber Verification)
  • a) Mobile connections obtained using fake/ forged documents are then used for cyber-frauds.
  • b) To curb this menace, the Department of Telecom has developed AI powered tool – ASTR to identify SIMs issued using fraudulent/forged documents.
  • c) ASTR used various techniques of facial recognition and data analytics.
  • d) In first phase, connections with paper-based KYC were analysed.

The ministry informed that in first phase of implementing ASTR, 87 crore mobile connections were analysed using Param-Sidhhi Supercomputer.

Multiple cases were detected where one photograph was used to obtain hundreds of connections and as a result, a total of 40.87 Lakh suspected mobile connections were detected. After due verification 36.61 Lakh connections have already been disconnected and the remaining are under process, it said.

40,123 Point of Sales (PoS) involved in selling such mobile connections, have been blacklisted by the service providers and more than 150 FIRs have been lodged across India. Further, the details of disconnected numbers have been shared with banks, payment wallets and social media platforms for disengaging these numbers with their accounts.

Sanchar Saathi portal link: https://sancharsaathi.gov.in/