Airtel Approaches Jio, Vodafone Idea For Joint Telecom Initiative Against Fraud

Airtel has informed the government and TRAI that it reached out to Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea with a proposal to work together and fight the growing problem of fraud and scams in the telecom sector.

Airtel is asking all telecom companies to join forces to protect people from rising cyber threats. In letters to other operators, Airtel shared that India saw over 1.7 million cybercrime complaints in the first nine months of 2024, with losses crossing Rs 11,000 crore.

This comes as cybercriminals use smarter tricks—like phishing links, fake loan offers and fake payment pages—leading to more cases of fraud and identity theft.

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Airtel has stepped up its fight against digital spam and scams. Recently, the company, led by Sunil Mittal, launched a fraud detection tool that blocks fake or harmful websites on platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook and Instagram.

"However, given the recent alarming rise in phishing attempts and malicious URL-based scams targeting unsuspecting individuals, it became evident that more coordinated industry action was needed. These sophisticated fraud schemes often exploit the gaps in coordination between service providers," Airtel wrote in letters to Telecom Secretary Neeraj Mittal and TRAI Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti.

Airtel has updated the telecom department and TRAI about its efforts to fight telecom fraud, spam, and scams, stressing the need for all telecom companies to work together. It proposed launching a Joint Telecom Fraud Initiative on May 14, 2025, where all telecom service providers (TSPs) would share real-time fraud data and coordinate across networks to stop scams more effectively.

Airtel also reminded that in October 2024, it had suggested a joint plan to tackle Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC). This included sharing information about corporate phone connections used for business calls in a common format, to help detect and stop spam.

Airtel further proposed creating a central platform—like the current Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) system—for sharing data across the industry. This would help stop UCC without affecting genuine business services.

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