You are not alone: How spam calls are a serious problem in India

Have you noticed an uptick in spam calls lately?

You’re not alone.

A new survey shows that well over half of respondents polled received three or more such calls daily over the past year.

This isn’t a new phenomenon in India either.

A Trucaller survey showed India was fourth on the list of nations badly affected by spam calls and messages – after Brazil, Peru and Ukraine.

But how serious is the problem? And what is the government doing to tackle it?

Let’s take a closer look:

How serious is the problem?

According to The Times of India, the survey conducted by LocalCircles showed 60 per cent of respondents got an average of three calls every day over the past year.

Localcircles interviewed 60,000 citizens across 378 districts of India.

Sixty-four percent of those polled were men and 36 per cent were women.

The findings showed that 30 per cent respondents got between one to two such calls on average.

Another 36 per cent said they got three to five such calls every day.

Twenty-one per cent got six to 10 spam calls, while three per cent received over 10 unwanted calls.

Just six per cent “did not get any such phone calls.”

Seventy-six per cent of those polled said they received most calls from people offering financial services and real estate.

But 48 per cent said they get most spam calls from individuals.

Thirty-six per cent of respondents said the spam calls come from companies and brands.

According to NDTV Profit, the most calls came from Bajaj Finance and HDFC.

Of 12,000 responses, 40 per cent said the most calls came from Bajaj Finance, while 15 per cent said HDFC Life Insurance.

Twelve per cent said HDFC Bank, and four per cent said Kotak Mahindra Bank called them the most.

According to the survey, calls from different mobile phone numbers that seem to belong to companies/brands have risen from 29 per cent in February 2023 to 36 per cent in February 2024.

Seven per cent said the calls come from a landline.

Two per cent said the calls come from a toll-free number.

What is the government doing?

The Centre has, among other things, set up the TRAI’s ’national do not call’ registry – aka the Do Not Disturb list.

Citizens can get on the list to avoid unwanted calls.

How can they do so?

The TRAI website states, “Consumer can register his/her preference(s) in NCPR by dialling 1909 or by sending SMS to 1909. You can also register using TRAI DND 2.0 mobile app.”

“Consumer can block all commercial communications (calls and SMSs both) or can selectively block UCCs from specified seven categories [1) Banking/insurance/ financial products/credit cards; 2) Real Estate; 3) Education; 4) Health; 5) Consumer goods and automobiles; 6) Communication/ Broadcasting / Entertainment/IT and 7 Tourism and leisure] by registering his/her preference in National customer Preference Register (NCPR) also known as DND Registry.”

But this isn’t a silver bullet.

The report said that 90 per cent of respondents said they get such calls despite being on the do not disturb list.

“This clearly indicates that the DND list is still not working for consumers," the report stated.

The Centre has also cracked down on illegal operations.

It told Parliament in December that as many as 65 illegal telecom setups which allowed international calls with spoofed Indian numbers were busted during FY2023-24.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has directed the International Long Distance Operators (ILDOs) to drop incoming calls with no Calling Line Identification (CLI), or improper CLI or having certain prefixes.

Moreover, DoT is blocking the apps allowing the origination of spoofed calls. Such apps are also blocked at Google Play Store and iOS App Store, Minister of State for Communications, Devusinh Chauhan said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

DoT in coordination with Law Enforcement Agencies and Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) is unearthing illegal telecom setups that allow international calls with spoofed Indian numbers.

Such illegal setups are used to bypass the ILDOs for anti-national activities, cyber-crimes and financial frauds, Chauhan said. “So far, 65 such illegal setups during FY 2023-24, 62 in FY 2022-23 and 35 in FY 2021-2022 have been unearthed.”

“Further, to prevent the incoming international calls with spoofed Indian landline numbers, DoT has directed the ILDO to drop international incoming calls with no CLI, improper CLI or having CLI prefixes such as +11, 011 & 11, +911 to +915,” he informed.

DoT has launched citizen-centric Sanchar Saathi portal, which facilitates the citizens to report international calls received with Indian CLI, and to check mobile connections taken in their name and report the mobile connections which are not taken by them.

“Telecom Service Providers are disconnecting such reported mobile connections after necessary subscriber reverification. Around 13.08 lakh such mobile connections have been disconnected,” the minister said.

According to India Today, the Centre in Novemebr said it has blocked 70 lakh numbers associated with scams and financial crimes.

What do experts say?

That there is a silver lining.

As per The Times of India, the report stated that the number of respondents getting three or more calls dipped by February 2023.

Local Circles in its report said, “The dip, though marginal, is encouraging as it shows that proper implementation of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) directive can bring about further improvement in containing spam calls to mobile subscribers.”

So, what can be done to help consumers?

Sachin Taparia, founder and CEO of LocalCircles, told Business Standard that accountability is the name of the game.

Taparia said, “The need of the hour is to enable a system where pesky callers are blacklisted at the identity/Aadhaar level so they have the risk of not getting a new SIM. Also, brands on whose behalf the contracted callers are calling also need to be held accountable by the CCPA or Department of Consumer Affairs so brands institute the right consumer outreach practices both with employees as well as the third party contractors.”

Tilak Raj Dua, director general, Digital Infrastructure Providers Association told NDTV, “…this issue certainly needs attention – although the DOT and TRAI have issued a number of guidelines.”

Consumer lawyer Sanjay K Chadha said consumers can take the initiative.

“The first thing you have to do is go to the service provider within seven days. If the service provider doesn’t respond to you, you have the right to go to TRAI,” Chadha said.

Chadha also mentioned a judgment which stated that those on the DND list who have been disturbed can approach consumer court.

“It is a violation of Article 21 – the right to privacy. It is unacceptable, untenable and such marketers should be banned immediately,” Chadha added.

Dua said citizens can use call blocking apps and many smartphones have inbuilt call blocking features.

A piece in Moneycontrol cited Gmail and Outlook as successful examples of thwarting spam.

“Google and Microsoft have built several spam filter barriers and use machine learning and AI to decide whether to send an email to the spam folder or inbox. Every minute these mechanisms prevent millions of unsafe or unwanted emails from reaching users,” the article noted.

The piece noted that the numbers of spam, phishing attempts and malware scams are miniscule compared to those faced by phone users.

It remains to be seen how the government tackles the rising menace.

With inputs from agencies