Government warns citizens on calls impersonating DoT

The Government has issued an advisory against calls being made in the name of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) wherein recipients are being issued various threats. These callers are threatening people by saying that their mobile numbers will be disconnected or their mobile numbers are being misused in some illegal activities. The DoT has also issued advisory about WhatsApp calls from foreign origin mobile numbers impersonating government officials.

"The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued an advisory to citizens that calls are being received by the citizens wherein callers, in the name of DoT, are threatening that all of their mobile numbers would be disconnected or their mobile numbers are being misused in some illegal activities. Cybercriminals through such calls try to threaten/steal personal information to carry out cyber-crime/financial frauds," the statement said.

DoT does not authorize anyone to make such calls on its behalf and has advised people to stay vigilant and asked not to share any information on receiving such calls.

"The DoT has advised citizens to report such fraud communications at the 'Chakshu-Report Suspected Fraud Communications' facility of the Sanchar Saathi portal. Such proactive reporting helps the DoT in prevention of misuse of telecom resources for cyber-crime, financial frauds, etc," the statement said.