The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has said that about ₹660 crore in cyber fraud losses were prevented within six months of introducing the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) on May 22, 2025. 

The data is based on reports from public and private sector banks, co-operative banks, third-party application providers (TPAPs), and other financial institutions.

According to DoT, a large number of suspicious transactions were either blocked or flagged with alerts using FRI on the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP). 

Platform has over 1,000 onboarded entities

The platform now has over 1,000 onboarded entities, including banks, financial institutions, payment system operators, and TPAPs. The department has also conducted 16 knowledge-sharing sessions with stakeholders to strengthen FRI implementation.

Developed with support from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), FRI helps assess the risk level of mobile numbers linked to financial fraud. It enables banks and payment service providers to take preventive measures against high-risk numbers.

DoT said citizens are playing a major role in detecting fraud through the Sanchar Saathi platform, which allows users to report suspicious calls and messages, check mobile connections in their name, and block lost or stolen phones. Inputs from users through Sanchar Saathi contribute to improving the accuracy of the FRI system.

The Sanchar Saathi mobile app is available on Android and iOS, and its growing use reflects greater public awareness of cyber fraud. 

The department urged citizens to continue using the portal and app to report fraudulent activity and protect digital payments.

What is FRI?

This is a risk-based tool that categorizes mobile numbers by their likelihood of involvement in financial fraud, based on data from banks, telecom operators, and national cybercrime platforms.

What is Digital Intelligence Platform

This is a secure DoT system for sharing data on telecom misuse, used by over 1,050 organizations, including law enforcement and financial institutions.

Sanchar Saathi

A citizen platform that offers services such as fraud communication reporting, mobile connection checks, device blocking, and handset authenticity verification.