DoT suspends two telemarketing firms over sending 5.5 cr fraud SMSes

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has ordered telecom providers to revoke the services of Onextel Media and V-CON Intelligent Security, two registered telemarketers (RTMs), for sending more than 5.55 crore fraudulent SMSes since January 2024, according to a Moneycontrol report.

Following numerous complaints filed by telecom users on the 'Chakshu' facility on the Sanchar Saathi portal about malicious SMSes, the DoT ordered blacklisting of 131 principal entities (PEs), 5,000 SMS content templates, and 700 SMS headers. The department has issued orders to telcos to blacklist any entity found to be involved in sending malicious SMSs.

For it part, OneXtel claimed that it was not given a chance to make its case while denying any involvement in fraudulent bank activities.

Based on industry estimates, V-con and OneXtel are responsible for managing monthly SMS volumes of 2-4 billion from different firms and could possibly lose business worth around Rs 30 crore basis the recent revoke.

To protect citizens from potential SMS fraud through the Sanchar Saathi initiative, DoT recently also collaborated with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), MHA, provided information about the misuse of eight SMS Headers for sending fraudulent communications for committing cybercrime. DoT noted that more than 10,000 fraudulent messages were sent using these eight headers in the past three months and were blacklisted by DoT.

Read more: India's DoT plans unified interactive portal

That apart, DoT is already underway to develop a unified interactive portal to integrate all relevant websites into a single portal, within a year. This will house all information concerning Acts, policies and consumer initiatives relevant to the DoT.