Telecom minister makes an ‘important request’ to mobile users in India – Times of India

Telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has made an important request to mobile users across the country. He has strongly urged people to not pick mobile phone calls from “unknown numbers”. “People should never pick calls made from unknown numbers. I request every citizen that they should respond to calls from only (telephone/mobile) those numbers they recognise,” he told reporters. The minister made the request while responding to a question about spam calls and cyber frauds.
People should respond to unknown numbers only if an identification message is sent from such callers, the minister said.
The minister asserted that the ministry has taken several measures that have resulted in a significant reduction in spam calls and cases of cyber frauds. Vaishnaw said that his ministry had recently launched the ‘Sanchar Saathi’ portal to prevent spam calls and cyber frauds. Over 40 lakh wrong SIMs and 41,000 wrong “points of sale” agents were blacklisted, he added.
WhatsApp blocks 36 lakh accounts in India
In the last few months there has been a significant rise in spam calls, especially on instant messaging platform WhatsApp. WhatsApp users in India have reported a massive surge in incoming international spam calls over the past few days. These calls include both voice and video calls. The Meta-owned WhatsApp on its part blocked as many as 36 lakh mobile connections to check scam calls fraud.
In a statement WhatsApp recently said that it has ramped up its artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) systems to bring down fake call incidents significantly. “Our new enforcement will reduce the current calling rate by at least 50 per cent and we expect to be able to control the current incidence effectively. We will continue to work relentlessly towards ensuring a safe experience for our users,” a company spokesperson had said in the statement.