DoT Launches Financial Fraud Risk Indicator to Curb Cybercrime in Digital Payments

DoT Launches Financial Fraud Risk Indicator to Curb Cybercrime in Digital Payments
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has introduced the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI)—a risk-based metric developed as part of its Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP)—to strengthen the country’s cyber fraud prevention framework. This tool is designed to help banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), and digital payment platforms detect and mitigate financial fraud associated with mobile numbers.

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How the FRI System Works

The FRI classifies mobile numbers into three categories—Medium, High, or Very High risk—based on a multi-dimensional analysis of data from the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), DoT’s Chakshu platform, and intelligence shared by financial institutions. This categorisation enables stakeholders to take precautionary action, such as delaying or declining transactions and alerting users in real-time.

“It empowers stakeholders-especially banks, NBFCs, and UPI service providers- to prioritise enforcement and take additional customer protection measures in case a mobile number has high risk,” the Ministry of Communications said on Wednesday, May 20.

According to the Ministry, the move is particularly timely, given the increasing sophistication of digital fraud. As mobile numbers used for fraudulent purposes typically remain active only for a few days, early warning signals become critical. The DoT also circulates the Mobile Number Revocation List (MNRL), which includes numbers disconnected due to cybercrime involvement, failed verification, or exceeding usage limits—many of which are linked to financial fraud.

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