Over 13.6 mn mobile numbers disconnected: Minister

New Delhi: Union Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya M Scindia informed Parliament on Wednesday that over 13.6 million mobile numbers have been disconnected based on citizens’ feedback to curb telecom fraud.

The minister said that in a major nationwide push to curb cyber fraud and protect citizens from digital threats, the Government of India has rolled out a series of decisive, tech-enabled measures under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), in close coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs.

A key feature introduced is the ‘Know Your Mobile Connections’ service, which allows users to check all numbers issued under their name and report any unauthorised connections. This has resulted in the disconnection of 13.6 million such numbers, he explained.

Over 3.7 lakh individuals have been flagged under these categories, leading to the prevention of more than 3.04 lakh debit/credit instructions and the freezing of 1.55 lakh bank accounts. Recognising the system’s effectiveness, the Reserve Bank of India has instructed all banks to integrate FRI into their internal systems.

The minister said that DoT has also blocked 5.5 lakh handsets and deactivated 20,000 bulk SMS senders. Nearly 24 lakh WhatsApp accounts involved in suspicious activities have also been disengaged.

He highlighted that a Digital Intelligence Platform has been developed, bringing together 620 institutions, including 570 banks, 36 state police forces, investigative agencies, and telecom service providers, to jointly tackle fraud in real-time. The platform enables integrated action against scammers and cybercriminals who misuse telecom infrastructure to deceive citizens.