Centre launches Chakshu facility to empower citizens to proactively report suspected fraud communication

The initiative was launched by Union Minister Minister of Communications and Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw. He also launched the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)'s 'Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP)' for coordination among the stakeholders to curb misuse of telecom resources in cyber-crime and financial frauds.

Speaking on the occasion, Vaishnaw said the government has been persistently making efforts to check cyber frauds under the Secure India project, at three levels- national, organisational and individual.

He said the Department of Telecommunication has taken many initiatives to spread awareness so that citizens can make use of such tools for addressing their grievances as well as protect themselves from cyber-frauds.

Referring to the "Sanchar Saathi" portal, he said it has helped successfully tackle such attacks. The Minister pointed out that along with two portals- DIP and Chakshu, the tools will further appreciably enhance the capacity and ability to check any kind of cyber security threat.

Telecom Secretary Neeraj Mittal said these two new portals are yet another steps for dealing with cyber security threat to every citizen's digital assets. These tools, he pointed out, will help curb any kind of fraudulent means and misuse of communications system.

Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), developed by the Department of Telecommunications is a secure and integrated platform for real time intelligence sharing, information exchange and coordination among the stakeholders including Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), law enforcement agencies (LEAs), banks and financial institutions (FIs), social media platforms, identity document issuing authorities.

The portal also contains information regarding the cases detected as misuse of telecom resources. The shared information could be useful to the stakeholders in their respective domains.

It also works as a backend repository for the citizen-initiated requests on the Sanchar Saathi portal for action by the stakeholders.

The DIP is accessible to the stakeholders over secure connectivity and the relevant information is shared based on their respective roles, a release said. The said platform is not accessible to citizens.

Chakshu is the latest addition to the citizen-centric facilities already available on the Sanchar Saathi portal of DoT, the release said.

"Chakshu facilitates citizens to report suspected fraud communication received over call, SMS or WhatsApp with the intention of defrauding like KYC expiry or update of bank account / payment wallet / SIM / gas connection / electricity connection, sextortion, impersonation as government official / relative for sending money, disconnection of all mobile numbers by Department of Telecommunications etc," the release said.

It said in case, a citizen is already a victim of cyber-crime or financial fraud, it is advised to report at cyber-crime helpline number 1930 or website https://www.cybercrime.gov.in of Government of India. (ANI)