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The Department of Telecommunications says its Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) has helped prevent suspected cyber fraud losses of more than Rs 5,000 crore in the fifteen months since its launch on 22 May 2025.
Cumulative prevention rose from Rs 139.16 crore in August 2025 to Rs 5,043.73 crore by August 2026, with over Rs 2,000 crore prevented in the four months from April 2026 alone.
FRI is built on DoT's Digital Intelligence Platform and classifies mobile numbers as Medium, High or Very High risk using inputs from Sanchar Saathi, I4C's National Cybercrime Reporting Portal and telecom operators.
The signal is shared with banks, payment service providers, insurers, securities intermediaries and pension entities, and is being extended to trading and demat accounts, insurance issuance and pension transactions.
DoT has run over 25 training sessions covering 1,500 banks, financial institutions and regulators; more than 1,600 organisations are on the Digital Intelligence Platform.
When a payment is initiated, the receiving institution runs a machine-to-machine check on the counterparty's mobile number against DoT's risk rating and can hold, warn or block before the money moves — prevention at source rather than recovery afterwards.
Simple Analogy: A credit score, but for how likely a phone number is to belong to a fraudster.
Sanchar Saathi portal launched by the Department of Telecommunications for citizen-facing telecom security services.
Digital Intelligence Platform and the Chakshu reporting module launched.
Financial Fraud Risk Indicator launched under DIP.
Cumulative prevention through FRI at Rs 139.16 crore.
Cumulative prevention crosses Rs 5,000 crore, reaching Rs 5,043.73 crore.
Single citizen-facing portal of DoT for telecom security services
Key: Launched 16 May 2023; lets a user see all mobile connections issued in their name, report those that are not theirs, and block lost or stolen handsets; citizen reports here feed FRI
Report suspected fraud communications
Key: Module on Sanchar Saathi launched 4 March 2024 for reporting fraudulent calls, SMS and WhatsApp messages such as fake KYC calls, lottery and job offers
Block and trace lost or stolen mobile handsets
Key: Works on the handset's IMEI so a stolen device cannot be reused on any network
Detect SIM connections obtained on forged documents
Key: AI and facial-recognition based tool for telecom subscriber verification, used to disconnect fraudulently obtained connections
Citizen reporting of cyber crime, with a dedicated route for financial fraud
Key: Run under I4C, Ministry of Home Affairs; the release stresses that the first hour after a fraud matters most
Stop fraud proceeds from being siphoned off through mule accounts
Key: Launched in 2021 under I4C; links banks, wallets and payment aggregators so a reported transaction can be held immediately
Developed FRI and the Digital Intelligence Platform, runs Sanchar Saathi and shares telecom-risk intelligence with the financial sector
Coordinates cyber-crime prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution; runs NCRP, the 1930 helpline and CFCFRMS; its data feeds FRI
Banking and payments regulator; embeds FRI signals into bank fraud-detection workflows
Umbrella organisation for retail payments; operates UPI, on which FRI warnings are surfaced to users
Securities market regulator; FRI is being extended to trading and demat account fraud checks
A fraud may begin with a misused telecom resource, travel through a payment channel and land in a bank, demat, insurance or pension account — which is why DoT, MHA's I4C, RBI, NPCI and SEBI have to share one signal.
FRI's inputs depend on ordinary citizens reporting suspicious calls on Sanchar Saathi and Chakshu, making public participation an operational input rather than an awareness slogan.
The layering of fraud proceeds through mule accounts is the same technique studied in money-laundering questions under the PMLA framework.
GS Paper 3 > Internal Security > Challenges of Cyber Security and Money Laundering
General Awareness > Banking Regulation, Payment Systems and Digital Fraud
General Awareness > Government Portals and Initiatives
In India, it is legally mandatory for which of the following to report on cyber security incidents? 1. Service providers 2. Data centres 3. Body corporate Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Answer: 1, 2 and 3
DoT's real-time rating of a mobile number's likelihood of involvement in financial fraud, in three risk bands.
DoT's secure intelligence-sharing platform launched in 2024, linking telecom operators, banks, regulators and law enforcement.
The list of disconnected mobile numbers shared through DIP so institutions stop using or trusting them.
A bank account, often opened in another person's name, used to layer and move fraud proceeds quickly.