New Delhi: Artificial Intelligence-based systems were deployed to weed out mobile phone connections obtained using fake identification and about 37 lakh such connections were disconnected so far, the government said Tuesday.
According to the data shared by the Ministry of Telecommunications, the highest number of SIMs (over 12.34 lakh) were disconnected in West Bengal, followed by Haryana (over 5.24 lakh SIMs), Bihar and Jharkhand together (over 3.27 lakh SIMs), Madhya Pradesh (over 2.28 lakh SIMs) and Uttar Pradesh-East (over 2.04 lakh SIMs).
Additionally, the Centre also announced the launch of Sanchaar Sathi Portal via which mobile users can check for mobile connections issued in their name, disconnect the connections not required, block/trace lost mobile phones, and check the genuineness of devices while buying a new or second-hand mobile phone.
“Our focus is on consumer protection and safety and with that objective, we have announced some consumer-facing reforms today,” IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at a press conference.
These reforms, the minister said, include the introduction of a Centralised Identity Equipment Register (CEIR), which will help in tracing and blocking of lost/stolen mobile devices, and Telecom Analytics for Fraud Management and Consumer Protection (TAFCOP) that will enable a mobile subscriber to check the number of mobile connections taken in his/her name, and disconnect the unwanted connections.
“We are also deploying an AI-based system – called ASTR – to identify how many numbers have been taken using the same identification,” the minister said, adding that so far ASTR has been used to analyse about 87 crore mobile connections. Following which, 40 lakh suspected fraudulent connections were found, and of these, 36 lakh connections have been disconnected.
“I will share two extreme examples with you. In one case a person had taken 5,300 connections using the same image with different names and in another case, a person took 6,800 connections in a similar manner. ASTR has the ability to detect such anomalies,” Vaishnaw said.
To prevent the sale of such connections, the government has also blacklisted over 40,000 point of sales (PoS), he added.
To a query on spam/fraud calls received on WhatsApp, the minister said that the government is working with the tech firm to de-register the numbers found to be fake from its platforms.
Commenting on Vaishnaw’s acknowledgment of its commitment to user safety, a WhatsApp spokesperson said the company was actively engaged with the government to consistently ensure a safe and secure user experience, including weeding out bad-actors.
“WhatsApp is a leader among end-to-end encrypted services in protecting user safety and we continue to provide several in-built safety tools like Block & Report, Two-step verification, among others, along with regularly driving user safety education and awareness,” the spokesperson added.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Source: The Print
