Phone call scams are increasing at a rapid rate in India, as a result of which people from different parts of the country are being duped in various ways. The Modi government, however, has been constantly working to avoid such unexpected hassles – sometimes blocking millions of mobile numbers at the center and sometimes issuing outright warnings about fraud. In a recent move, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), to curb the growing phone call scams, has taken a new decision that will easily identify genuine calls and fake calls made by fraudsters.
In fact, after issuing various anti-fraud provisions in the past few weeks, the Department of Telecom recently launched a new 10-digit number series starting with the 160 code for calls related to services provided by governments, regulatory bodies and financial institutions. This way everyone can be aware of the official calls. Let's find out about this in detail.
Now the bank or government call will come from the new number series with 160 code
As for the design or features of DOT's new number series, the new 10-digit numbers issued for banking or government purposes will begin with a 160 code. In this case phone calls from Government, Financial Institutions (Banks) and Telecom Regulatory Authority will come in '1600ABCXXX' format. In this the 'AB' part of the number will show the telecom circle code (eg 11 for Delhi), 'C' will show the operator's code. At the same time, the 'XXX' part will contain numbers between 000 and 999.
On the other hand, 10-digit numbers in the format '1601ABCXXX' will be issued to financial institutions authorized and regulated by the Reserve Bank like SEBI, PFRDA (Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority) and IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority).
People will get this information about incoming call number
According to official reports, the new 10-digit number series has been designed by the telecom department so that people can get information about the calling institutions as well as the telecom operator and where the call originated from. In this case TSPs (Telecom Service Providers) will thoroughly verify each organization before alloting 160 series numbers. Moreover, TSPs will also have to take an undertaking from the organization interested in getting such a number that they will use the allocated number only for service and transaction purposes.
