WhatsApp To Remove International Numbers Used For Fraud

Amid an alarming rise in fraud instances on WhatsApp via international mobile numbers, the messaging service has reportedly agreed to deregister mobile numbers that have been identified as committing fraud.

“We have actively engaged with WhatsApp, and they have agreed that yes, customer safety is most important, and they are absolutely on board to deregister the users who have been detected as fraud users,” Vaishnaw was cited as saying by Mint in response to a query on steps taken by the government to stop WhatsApp scammers calling from international numbers.

The Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw was talking at the launch of three consumer telecom reforms, including the Sanchar Saathi Portal – a customer-focused telecom portal – that will work towards protecting telecom users from fraud.

The minister added that the government is in conversation with other messaging platforms including Telegram to remove such fraudulent users.

WhatsApp followed up Vaishnaw’s comments with a statement, confirming that it was working with the government to resolve the issue. “We have been actively engaging with the government to consistently ensure a safe and secure user experience, including weeding out bad actors from the platform,” the Meta-owned app said.

To recap, WhatsApp users in India have reported a major surge in incoming international spam calls recently. Many users have complained that a major chunk of these spam calls had country codes belonging to Indonesia (+62), Vietnam (+84), Malaysia (+60), Kenya (+254) and Ethiopia (+251).

Once the call is received, the scammers target the end-user with a larger scam, which starts from a job offer to offering money for menial tasks online.

Government’s Move Towards Safeguarding Telecom Users

Sanchar Saathi, launched earlier this week, allows users to know the mobile connections issued in their name, disconnect connections not required by them, block/trace lost mobile phones and check the genuineness of devices while buying a new/old mobile phone.

“In these three reforms, we have created a proper regulatory procedure by which the mobile phones which are either lost or stolen can be disabled,” the minister was cited as saying.

According to the Sanchar Saathi portal, the government has blocked 4,84,522 mobile numbers, helping trace 2,44,438 numbers as well, via the Central Equipment Identity Register (CIER), a central database of mobile phones maintained by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

At the event, the government also introduced the Artificial Intelligence and Face Recognition (ASTR) module, which enables SIM subscriber verification and helps identify fraudulent subscribers.