Home  /  Daily Current Affairs  /  16-02-2021 / Nodal agency to tackle fraud, pesky SMSes & calls

Nodal agency to tackle fraud, pesky SMSes & calls

Posted on February 16, 2021 by admin1  46

In News

The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology will set up an intelligence unit and a consumer protection system to tackle the menace of pesky calls and financial frauds perpetrated using telecom resources.

Rationale Behind the Step

  • The issue of UCC has been a major area of concern for the Telecom Ministry as well as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
  • Recently, there have been several complaints regarding financial frauds done through mobile phones by sending pesky messages promising loans etc.
  •  The TRAI already has regulations in place to check pesky calls.
    •  However, several unregistered telemarketers still make calls to people which often also leads to fraudulent incidents.
  • The cases, as per the information sourced from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), grew from nearly 1.6 lakh incidents in 2018 to about 2.5 lakh in 2019, and thereafter to 2.9 lakh last year.
  • According to the annual report of  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for 2018-19 frauds related to misuse of credit and debit cards, cloning of identities, spam amounted to Rs 220 crore in the year and expected to rise unless proper mitigation measures were taken.
  • The Ministry decided to set up a Digital Intelligence Unit (DIU) and a Telecom Analytics for Fraud Management and Consumer Protection (TAFCOP).

 

Digital Intelligence Unit (DIU)

  • It will be a nodal agency to deal with complaints of unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) and cases of financial fraud, especially in the digital payments space.
  • The main function of DIU will be to coordinate with various LEAs (law enforcement agencies), financial institutions and telecom service providers in investigating any fraudulent activity involving telecom resources.

 

Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC)

  • UCC means any Commercial Communication which a subscriber opts not to receive.
  • It does not include-
    • any transactional message or any message transmitted on the directions of the Central Government or State Government or agencies authorized by it.

 

Telecom Analytics for Fraud Management and Consumer Protection (TAFCOP)

  • TAFCOP will be set up at all the 22 license service area levels.
  • It will strengthen the trust of people in the digital ecosystem and will make financial digital transactions primarily through mobile.
  • It will be more secure and reliable, which will result in the promotion of Digital India.
  • In case of any violation, imposing a financial penalty on telemarketers and disconnecting resources in case of repetitive violations have also been proposed.

Source: IE


Other News of the Day

                                             Facts in News NASSCOM Technology and Leadership Forum (NTLF) It is the annual flagship event of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM). Established in 1988, NASSCOM is a not-for-profit industry...
Read More

In News: Recently, Punjab has become the thirteenth state to successfully undertake One Nation, One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme. Although 32 states and UTs (as on 3rd Feb 2021) are in process of implementing the scheme, there were only 12 states (excluding Punjab) who had fulfilled all the reform related requirements stated by Nodal agency...
Read More

In News: At the projected economic cost of Rs 29.94/kg for wheat and Rs 42.94/kg for rice, the corresponding per-kg PDS consumer subsidy in the coming fiscal would work out to Rs 27.94 and Rs 39.94, respectively. Thus FCI is facing three-pronged challenges of Rising stocks, Increasing cost & Push to procure. Challenges to FCI:...
Read More

In News: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will use the Rs. 1,500 crore earmarked in Budget 2021-22 to augment safety and infrastructure of the digital payments systems. Production Linked Subsidy Scheme In March 2020, the scheme was introduced to boost domestic manufacturing and cut down on import bills. Aims To give companies incentives...
Read More

In News- The National Informatics Centre, a branch under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, launched an instant messaging platform called Sandes on the lines of WhatsApp. Like WhatsApp, it can be used for all kinds of communications by anyone with a mobile number or email id. Why Needed? The government felt the need...
Read More

In News Recently, the Minister for Health and Family Welfare has highlighted that there has been an increase in 2021-22’s budget of the Ministry of Science and Technology compared to 2020-21. In the Union Budget 2021-22, Rs. 71268.77 crore has been allocated to the Ministry, as against Rs. 65,011.8 crore allocated in 2020-2021. However, the...
Read More

In News: At an event on “Act East Policy and India-Japan Cooperation in North-East India with a Special Focus on Assam”, Indian foreign minister termed Assam as springboard for Act East Policy. The event was in Guwahati to review a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-funded Guwahati Water Supply project site with Japanese ambassador Suzuki. Points...
Read More