The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is looking to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) for curbing cybercrime and SIM frauds. India allows consumers to hold up to 9 SIM cards under their name. This gives fraudsters room for taking multiple SIM cards and then utilising them for fraud. (Note that J&K users can only keep 5 SIM cards). According to an ET Telecom report, a TRAI official said that they are thinking of using tech such as AI for tracking stationary SIM cards which are active at specific places to curb fraudulent calls. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) recently conducted an AI-based probe in Mewat, Haryana for SIM verification. There were almost 14,000 fake connections found in the area which were meant for SIM frauds.
Millions of Indians, Fraudsters Just Need to Get Lucky a Few Times
There are millions of Indians who receive fraudulent calls. These scamsters don’t need to get lucky each time. Even if they get what they want a few times, they make money. So many Indians lose money to scamsters because of fake calls. TRAI is looking to stop this as much as possible by using new-age technologies. TRAI is banking on the fact that SIM cards owned by genuine consumers do move and change locations from time to time. It is the stationary SIM cards which are meant for fraud activities. TRAI will leverage AI to track these stationary SIM cards and attempt to curb SIM frauds and cybercrime. The AI-enabled processes can help TRAI in locating suspicious SIM cards fast. In 2021, TRAI implemented a blockchain-based system for commercial messages that only allowed genuine entities to send messages in bulk to the customers with a pre-defined template. This way scamsters can’t broadcast or send messages in bulk to consumers which will contribute to curbing SIM frauds and cybercrimes in India.
