People will now be able to block and track their lost or stolen mobile phones across India through Sanchar Sathi Portal launched by Sanchar Sathi Portal Department of Telecommunications on Tuesday.
Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that through Sanchar Saathi doorPeople will be able to block, track and verify the genuineness of a used device before buying it.
“First leg of Sanchar Saathi portal is cars (Central Equipment Identity Register). If you lose your mobile phone, you can visit this portal. Some identity verification, undertaking will be required and soon after that the portal will interact with law enforcement agencies and telecom service providers and block your lost mobile phone,” Vaishnav said.
He said that the Prime Minister has a clear vision that user security needs a lot of attention and the facilities under the Sanchar Saathi portal are aligned to his vision.
Asked about the measures being taken by the government to check fraud through calls on WhatsApp, the minister said the Meta-owned app has agreed to deactivate services linked to any mobile phone number involved in fraudulent activities. It is done.
Vaishnav said, “We are actively engaged with WhatsApp and they have agreed that customer safety is of paramount importance. All OTT platforms are actively cooperating to deregister users who are considered fraud users. as found.”
He said that 36 lakh mobile connections have been disconnected for fraud and also their WhatsApp accounts have been blocked.
The minister said that the Know Your Mobile facility is a communication companion that helps users verify the genuineness of old mobile phones before buying them.
“We are confident that at least these reforms will seriously control the growing trend of cyber frauds and we will be able to bring them down,” Vaishnav said.
He said that there is TAFCOP feature on Sanchar Saathi, which helps people to find out if other mobile numbers are working in their name without their permission or knowledge.
The communication companion features have been developed by C-DOT. The Technology Development Branch under the Department of Telecom has been able to add the facility to check the use of cloned mobile phones on all telecom networks.
Government has made it mandatory to disclose IMEI– 15 digit unique numeric identifier of mobile devices prior to sale in India.
Mobile networks will have access to a list of approved IMEI numbers to check the entry of any unauthorized mobile phones onto their networks.
Telecom operators and the CEIR system will have visibility into the IMEI number of the device and the mobile number associated with it and the information is being used in some states to track your lost or stolen mobiles through the CEIR.
One of the common practices is that miscreants after stealing mobile phones change the IMEI number of the device which prevents tracking and blocking of such handsets.
CEIR will be able to block any cloned mobile phone on the network with the help of various databases.
C-DOT is piloting the technology in some telecom circles including Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka and North East. Recently, the Karnataka Police recovered 2,500 lost mobile phones using the CEIR system and handed them over to their owners. Apple already has a system in place to track lost mobile phones with the help of Apple ID, but major issues have been around Android mobile phone.
With the implementation of the new system, using stolen mobile phones will become pointless. The system developed under Sanchar Saathi can also help in preventing smuggling of phones.