HYDERABAD: Department of Telecommunications’ Special Director General (Telecom) Prashanth R Patil said that around 60% of Indians receive at least three spam calls a day, compared to the daily global average of 105 spam calls.
Explaining the issue of illegally procured SIM cards used by criminals across the country, he said that the department analysed 134 crore mobile connections and detected 79.42 lakh fraudulent SIMs. Following re-verification, 73.14 lakh of these SIMs were disconnected and 70,895 connections were blacklisted. In one case, a single offender managed to obtain 6,800 SIM cards using another person’s photograph. Cybercriminals exploit such fake SIMs and IDs, which, he said, was the bedrock of numerous scams.
A recent study revealed that six out of 10 people in India receive at least three spam calls daily, while nine out of 10 receive spam messages every day. This widespread issue has also impacted the economy, with financial losses due to cyber frauds — many originating from spam communications — amounting to $113.3 billion, Patil said.
In India, consumer spam complaints decreased by 20%, from 1.8 lakh in August 2024 to 1.15 lakh in October 2024, following the implementation of stricter regulations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).