The government of India recently launched the Chakshu portal under the Sanchar Sathi initiative. It’s a portal where people can report any form of fraudulent calls, scams, lottery scams, job offer frauds, and potential leaks of phone numbers of individuals by businesses. It is a great initiative as many Indians especially, people from rural areas and older age groups are often targets of scammers. 

The Union Minister of IT and Communications, Ashwini Vaishnaw talked about how the Department of Telecom Services through digital interventions has protected citizens from potential frauds and has saved around Rs.1000 crore in nine months. "Chakshu is about reporting something which people suspect is fraud," Vaishnaw said.

When asked about the problem of leaking numbers, the Union Minister ensured that the portal could also be used to report such instances. All you have to do is report the problem in the portal and the right actions will be taken against the criminals. He also highlighted that more than 1 crore phone numbers have been blocked due to suspicious activities in the past nine months. 

On the other hand, the Department of Telecom has also introduced a platform called Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP). The platform is created to work as a medium to exchange information between banks, law enforcement agencies, and financial institutions about any fraud or scams. 

“With the Chakshu and Digital Intelligence Platform, we think the pace at which we were able to detect and prevent cyber frauds will significantly improve," Vaishnaw said. Investigations will be carried out on reported numbers and appropriate actions will be taken to ensure utmost safety and security. 

The government is also working with the RBI to recover the money transferred to accounts via fraudulent means and freeze the accounts with these suspicious activities. Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan appreciated the initiative by DOT to combat cyber security threats and prevent fraudulent activities in the country. 

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