Dot & FIU-IND Join Hands To Strengthen Cybersecurity & Prevent Financial Fraud

(MENAFN- KNN India) New Delhi, Sep 26 (KNN) The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance coordination in combating cybercrimes and financial frauds.

The agreement is a step toward building a collaborative framework for real-time data exchange and joint analysis between the telecom and financial intelligence domains.

The partnership enables both agencies to share financial fraud risk indicator (FRI) data in real time, classifying mobile numbers on the basis of their association with fraudulent activities.

DoT will provide FIU-IND with Mobile Number Revocation List (MNRL) data, while FIU-IND will share mobile numbers linked to suspicious financial transactions, including money mule activities.

Information will be exchanged through secure digital platforms such as DoT's Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) and FIU-IND's Finnex 2.0, ensuring seamless and system-based coordination.

Speaking at the signing, Telecom Secretary Dr. Neeraj Mittal emphasised the importance of inter-departmental synergies, highlighting the need to move beyond individual technological achievements to collaborative solutions.

He also proposed the establishment of a joint working group to focus on identifying shell companies and deepening analysis for fraud detection.

Revenue Secretary Arvind Shrivastava underlined the efficiency gains expected from the initiative, noting that the collaboration would bring greater accuracy and timeliness in addressing frauds across the telecom and financial systems.

The initiative combines telecom intelligence with financial intelligence, allowing early identification of fraudulent mobile connections and enabling financial institutions to implement risk checks during digital transactions.

By moving from reactive measures to proactive detection, the collaboration aims to provide early warning signals against potentially fraudulent mobile numbers through multi-source analysis, including inputs from DoT's Sanchar Saathi platform and financial institutions.

DoT's Digital Intelligence Platform, already integrated with over 700 stakeholders including state police, central law enforcement agencies, SEBI, NPCI, FIU-IND and more than 650 banks, will now be further strengthened by this partnership.

Existing efforts such as Sanchar Saathi have already disconnected over 2.84 crore fraudulent mobile connections, while the FRI mechanism has helped financial institutions block or decline 48 lakh suspicious transactions, saving Rs 140 crore from potential fraud.

Looking ahead, the agreement is expected to pave the way for standard operating procedures for data sharing, establish feedback mechanisms for strengthening fraud detection analytics, and issue guidelines and red flag indicators to financial institutions.

(KNN Bureau)

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