The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Monday said that the significant achievements of the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) are driven by active support of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), leading to large-scale onboarding of banks, financial institutions, and Third-Party Application Providers (TPAPs) on the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP). As on date, more than 1,000 banks, TPAPs, and Payment System Operators (PSOs), have onboarded the DIP and started adopting FRI actively. DoT is also conducting regular knowledge-sharing sessions with stakeholders to enhance awareness and effective implementation of FRI, with 16 sessions held till date.

With the help of Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI), ₹660 Crore Cyber Fraud Losses have been prevented in just 6 months since its rollout on May 22, 2025. As reported by various Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks, Co-operative Banks, TPAPs and other financial institutions, a large number of suspicious transactions have been either declined or issued with alerts by leveraging the FRI available on DIP of DoT, thereby preventing potential financial losses of approximately ₹660 crore across the banking ecosystem.

India’s cybercrime landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years, with fraudsters operating like well-organized digital cartels. From digital arrest scams to sophisticated SIM-box networks bypassing legal telecom routes, the threat is evolving faster than ever. Yet, amid this complexity, one factor has emerged as the most decisive force in combating cybercrime: Jan Bhagidari. Citizens, through Sanchar Saathi, which has emerged as India’s most powerful crowdsourced cyber-intelligence tool, are providing continuous inputs for Financial Fraud Risk Indicator.

DoT acknowledges and appreciates the efforts of all vigilant citizens and Cyber Warriors who are actively leveraging the Sanchar Saathi platform (available at www.sancharsaathi.gov.in and through mobile App on both Android and iOS) to report Suspected Fraud Communications, report fraudulent connections obtained in their name, and lost/stolen mobile handsets. The recent trends in downloads and usage of the Sanchar Saathi mobile App reflects the trust reposed by citizens in the platform and their proactive role in preventing cyber frauds. This large-scale citizen engagement is significantly contributing in curtailing the misuse of telecom resources by fraudsters and creating a safer and more resilient digital ecosystem.

The aware users already recognize many fraud calls and simply ignore or cut them, which protects themselves but does nothing to stop the same fraudster from targeting less-informed citizens.  By making it easy to report such suspected fraud communications in a few taps from the call log, Sanchar Saathi allows those who understand the risk to actively protect those who do not, enabling authorities and telecom operators to identify patterns, block offending numbers, disable fake connections and deter repeat offenders.

DoT urges all the citizens to utilize Sanchar Saathi web portal and Mobile App for availing the citizen centric services. DoT reiterates its commitment to fostering a secure digital payments ecosystem through inter-agency collaboration, proactive fraud detection, and intelligence-driven policy interventions. The continued cooperation of RBI, NPCI, SEBI, PFRDA, all banks, financial institutions, payment operators and Jan Bhagidari remains crucial to safeguarding India’s rapidly expanding digital economy.

About Sanchar Saathi Initiative
Sanchar Saathi is a citizen centric initiative of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to empower mobile subscribers, strengthen their security and increase awareness about citizen centric initiatives of the Government. Sanchar Saathi is available in form of Mobile App and web portal (www.sancharsaathi.gov.in). Sanchar Saathi provides various citizen centric services.

Key Features of the Sanchar Saathi initiative
    Chakshu – Report Suspected Fraud Communications: Instantly report suspicious calls and SMS, directly from the mobile phone logs.
    Know Mobile Connections in Your Name: View and manage all mobile numbers registered under your name, helping detect and remove unauthorized connections.
    Blocking Lost or Stolen Mobile Handsets: Block, trace, and recover your mobile device quickly in case it is lost or stolen.
    Know Mobile Handset Genuineness: Easily verify whether a handset is genuine before making a purchase
    Trusted Contact Details: Access verified contact information for banks and financial institutions

The Sanchar Saathi Mobile App can be downloaded from:
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dot.app.sancharsaathi
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/sanchar-saathi/id6739700695

About Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI)
FRI is a risk-based metric that classifies a suspected mobile number to have been associated with Medium, High, or Very High risk of financial fraud. This classification is an outcome of inputs obtained from various stakeholders including reporting on Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C’s) National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), DoT’s Chakshu platform, Intelligence shared by banks and financial institutions, TSPs, etc. It empowers stakeholders-especially banks, NBFCs, and UPI service providers to take additional customer protection measures in case a mobile number appear as part of the FRI.

About Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP)
Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) has been developed by DoT as an online secure platform for sharing of information related to misuse of telecom resources among various stakeholders. It has about 1050+ organizations that include central security agencies, 36 State/UT Police, I4C, GSTN, banks, financial institutions, TSPs, Social media platforms like WhatsApp, CBDT, UIDAI, MORTH, PFMS, etc.