DoT’s Fraud Risk Indicator Tool Aims to Protect Millions From Online Transaction Scams: Check Details

Digital payments in India have become more common than anything in everyday life. However, it also associated with online fraud and several risk factors. With millions of users relying on mobile devices and internet banking for transactions, safeguarding users from financial scams has become a top priority for Indian government. In this regard, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has taken a crucial step and introduced a new tool to protect citizens from malicious activities targeting their mobile numbers and financial data.

Here’s What the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) and How It Will Benefit General Users:

The Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) introduced by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)  is one of the most essential part of the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP). The platform is designed in such a way that it will provide insights and information, especially warnings about mobile numbers that can be potentially fraudulent or associated with the fraudsters.

Stronger Checks, Safer Transactions!

DoT introduces Financial Fraud Risk Indicator. It will:

– Share intel to banks, UPI & financial platforms

– Help digital payment platforms in flagging risky mobile numbers during payments

– Enable faster fraud detection, prevention &… pic.twitter.com/kpDlbLh1sq

— DoT India (@DoT_India) May 21, 2025

Who Will be Benefitted with Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI):

The Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) will now send alerts and messages to the financial institutions and digital payment platforms about the potential risks. Additionally, these alerts will be sent after the in0depth analysis of various data sources. The FRI aims to help the stakeholders so that they can access the fraud risk linked to specific mobile numbers before completing any transactions.

Three Types of Risk as Per FRI:

The FRI has calculated and categorized three types of risks including Medium, High, and Very High. The classification is mainly based on the several inputs received from the cases reported through India’s National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP). Other platforms from where the data is gathered include DoT’s Chakshu platform and intelligence from banks and financial institutions.

Introducing India's Kawach against fraudulent payments!

In a big leap towards fighting cyber fraud, my team at @DoT_India has introduced the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) — a tech-driven analytical tool for real-time fraud detection and prevention. FRI will empower…

— Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) May 21, 2025

Platforms Adopting FRI:

Platforms like Paytm is among the first one to adopt the Fraud Risk Indicator system. They blocked transactions that are linked to the Very High mobile numbers. In addition, they also started issuing alerts through PhonePe Protect feature. The company is also working on alerts that can send for medium Risk mobile numbers before transactions.

Other major UPI platforms like Paytm and Google Pay has also started using FRI alertsThese platforms use risk data from the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) to delay suspicious transactions, prompt user confirmation, and reduce fraud. Additionally, banks are leveraging this data to strengthen their internal fraud detection systems.