India backs global telecom fraud trials as losses top Rs 22,800 crore: Pemmasani

NEW DELHI: When fraud crosses borders, the fight against it cannot stop at the network’s edge. India has backed a proposal by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to conduct joint trials to combat fraudulent communications across international telecom networks, calling for greater cooperation between governments, regulators, operators and technology companies.

Union minister of state for communications and rural development Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani announced India’s support while delivering the keynote address at the ITU roundtable on ‘Implementing ITU Standards to Combat Fraudulent Communications’, held on the sidelines of India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026.

The event follows the formal inauguration of IMC 2026 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Yashobhoomi on 8 October.

Highlighting the scale of the challenge, Pemmasani said Indians lost more than Rs 22,800 crore to fraud in 2024. The threats include impersonation, digital arrest scams, AI-generated voice cloning and deepfakes, which are making fraudulent communications increasingly difficult to identify and prevent.

“Fraud is a network problem. It needs a network answer. And because networks are global, the answer must also be global,” he said, stressing the need for coordinated international action.

Pemmasani outlined India’s five-layered strategy to tackle fraudulent communications, combining technological safeguards, citizen participation, intelligence sharing and measures to address emerging threats.

The approach includes real-time blocking of spoofed international calls, identifying fraudulent mobile connections through the Centre for Development of Telematics’ (C-DOT) AI-based Artificial Intelligence and Facial Recognition-based Subscriber Identification (ASTR) tool, encouraging citizen participation through the Sanchar Saathi platform, sharing intelligence through the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), and strengthening defences against new and evolving fraud channels.

According to the minister, ASTR has helped disconnect more than 82 lakh fraudulent mobile connections, while the Sanchar Saathi app has recorded around 25 million downloads.

The Digital Intelligence Platform connects more than 1,600 organisations, including telecom operators, banks and law-enforcement agencies, enabling them to share information and coordinate action against suspected fraud.

Another key measure, the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator, has helped prevent suspected financial losses exceeding Rs 5,000 crore over 15 months. The indicator supports efforts to identify mobile connections associated with financial fraud risks, helping stakeholders take preventive action before further losses occur.

Together, these initiatives reflect a shift towards identifying and blocking suspicious activity before it causes harm, rather than relying solely on action after a fraud has taken place.

While highlighting the progress made through domestic initiatives, Pemmasani acknowledged that national measures alone cannot fully address fraud originating beyond a country’s borders.

He underscored the importance of ITU standards that enable the digital verification of caller identities across international networks. Such standards could help countries and telecom operators establish greater trust in calls that cross national boundaries, making it harder for fraudsters to exploit differences between networks and regulatory systems.

Pemmasani welcomed the ITU’s proposal for joint trials involving governments, regulators, telecom operators and technology companies. He also affirmed India’s readiness to contribute to the initiative.

The minister suggested that the trials could begin between countries willing to participate, focusing initially on selected international routes. The trials should include different network technologies to assess how identity verification measures perform across varied telecom environments.

Lessons from these exercises could then be incorporated into the continued development and improvement of ITU standards, helping establish a more coordinated approach to identifying fraudulent communications globally.

Pemmasani also stressed that fraud prevention must remain a priority as the telecom industry prepares for the next generation of connectivity, including 6G networks.

Rather than treating security as an additional layer introduced after networks are deployed, he called for trust to be built into their design from the outset. This would help ensure that emerging technologies do not create fresh opportunities for fraudsters to exploit.

The broader challenge, he indicated, is to align technological safeguards with effective regulation and cooperation across borders. While AI and other digital tools can strengthen fraud detection, they can also be misused to create convincing impersonations and manipulate communications.

Concluding his address, Pemmasani reiterated the need for technology, regulation and international collaboration to work together to tackle fraudulent communications.

“At home, India has moved from reaction to prevention. Now, with ITU, let us move from national solutions to global trust,” he said.

The proposed joint trials could mark a step towards a more coordinated international framework for telecom fraud prevention, as countries seek to protect consumers and strengthen confidence in increasingly interconnected communication networks.