Question : Spam Calls

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has received complaints regarding spam and phishing calls;

(b) if so, the details thereof during the last three years, State-wise;

(c) whether the Government has identified the reasons for increase in the incidents of Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC);

(d) if so, whether the Government has formulated any guidelines to prevent the spam calls and phishing calls; and

(e) if so, the details thereof?

to (c):The issues ofspam and phishing calls fall within the purview of Ministry of Communications, Department of Telecommunications (DoT). As per the information received from DoT, to curb the menace of unwanted calls and messages i.eUnsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), under DoT, has issued a regulation namely “Telecom Commercial Communication Customers Preference Regulation (TCCCPR), 2018” which puts in place a framework for controlling UCC.

In compliance of provisions of TCCCPR, 2018 and TRAI direction dated 15th Feb 2021, Access Providers submit Licensed Service Area (LSA) wise, monthly Performance Monitoring Reports (PMR) to TRAI. As per the PMRs submitted by Access Providers, the available counts of UCC complaints received against Registered Telemarketers (RTM) and Unregistered Telemarketers(UTM) during the period 1.4.2020 to 31.12.2020 and 1.1.2021 to 31.12.2021 are given in Annexure-A [Registered Telemarketers (RTMs)] and Annexure-B [Unregistered Telemarketers (UTMs)]. Complaints are also received through DOT field units. The State-wise consumer complaints received in the preceding three years by DOT field units is attached as Annexure-C.

(d) and (e): The TCCCPR- 2018 regulations require all relevant entities involved in sending commercial communications to get them registered with any of the Access Providers (i.e. Telecom Service Providers). Such entities include Senders or Principal Entities (PEs), Registered.

Telemarketers (RTMs) etc. Access Providers are required to establish a system to ensure that PEs and RTMs comply with the regulatory requirements. In case of non-compliance, there are provisions in the regulations that TRAI may impose Financial Disincentives on the Access Providers. In turn, Access Providers may impose financial disincentives on participating entities in case of violation of regulations that can be attributed to failure of functions assigned to such entities.

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Annexure-A
Details of UCC complaints received with Access Providers against Registered Telemarketers (RTM)
S. No. Name of LSA 1.4.2020 to 31.12.2020 1.1.2021 to 31.12.2021
1 Andhra Pradesh 23189 31245
2 Assam 1098 1670
3 Bihar 2612 7450
4 Delhi 59513 61947
5 Gujarat 34669 34143
6 Haryana 2356 4590
7 Himachal Pradesh 707 1696
8 Jammu & Kashmir 478 1019
9 Karnataka 46760 55973
10 Kerala 9517 10778
11 Kolkata 7651 11264
12 Madhya Pradesh 17302 7192
13 Maharashtra 17920 40273
14 Mumbai 77184 88141
15 North East 531 437
16 Odisha 1223 2600
17 Punjab 5105 8637
18 Rajasthan 4874 8769
19 Tamilnadu (incl Chennai) 27484 34048
20 Uttar Pradesh (East) 3700 6266
21 Uttar Pradesh (West) 3197 5389
22 West Bengal 2041 4763
Total Complaints 349111 428290

Annexure-B
Details of UCC complaints received with Access Providers against Unregistered Telemarketers (UTM)

S. No. Name of LSA 1.4.2020 to 31.12.2020 1.1.2021 to 31.12.2021
1 Andhra Pradesh 23709 69370
2 Assam 484 1769
3 Bihar 3931 10447
4 Delhi 64191 152893
5 Gujarat 21564 55087
6 Haryana 5649 6197
7 Himachal Pradesh 319 1787
8 Jammu & Kashmir 276 1394
9 Karnataka 47043 133978
10 Kerala 4222 10457
11 Kolkata 5688 17645
12 Madhya Pradesh 20395 10747
13 Maharashtra 15992 89701
14 Mumbai 47634 154188
15 North East 193 674
16 Odisha 1245 3754
17 Punjab 4181 14018
18 Rajasthan 3036 10445
19 Tamilnadu (incl Chennai) 26976 77117
20 Uttar Pradesh (East) 2681 9403
21 Uttar Pradesh (West) 3552 8544
22 West Bengal 4143 16162
Total Complaints 307043 855771

Annexure-C

No of Consumer complaints received regarding spam and phishing calls as on 25.02.2022

S. No. State/UT Name of LSA No. of Consumers complaints received in the preceding 3 years regarding spam and phishing calls No. of Consumers complaints received in current year regarding spam and phishing calls
1 Andaman & Nicobar WB 0 0
2 Andhra Pradesh AP 0 0
3 Arunachal Pradesh NE 0 0
4 Assam ASM 0 0
5 Bihar BH 3 0
6 Chandigarh PB 0 0
7 Chhattisgarh MP 15 46
8 D&NH and D&D GJ 0 0
9 Goa MH 2 0
10 Gujarat GJ 0 0
11 Haryana HR 0 0
12 Himachal Pradesh HP 0 0
13 Jammu and Kashmir J&K 0 0
14 Jharkhand BH 2 1
15 Karnataka KTK 0 0
16 Kerala KRL 1 0
17 Ladakh J&K 0 0
18 Lakhsadweep KRL 0 0
19 Madhya Pradesh MP 3 5
20 Maharashtra MH 26 2
21 Manipur NE 0 0
22 Meghalaya NE 0 0
23 Mizoram NE 0 0
24 Nagaland NE 0 0
25 NCT of Delhi DL 0 0
26 Odisha ODI 0 0
27 Puducherry TN 4 0
28 Punjab PB 0 0
29 Rajasthan RJ 0 0
30 Sikkim WB 0 0
31 Tamil Nadu TN 17 2
32 Telengana AP 0 0
33 Tripura NE 0 0
34 Uttar Pradesh UPE+UPW 0 0
35 Uttarakhand UPW 1 1
36 West Bengal WB 9 5
Grand Total 83 62

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