The Indian government reports that the country is increasingly succeeding in stopping cyber fraud before funds leave the victim's account. Thanks to a telecommunications-based risk management system, banks and payment platforms have been able to prevent suspicious fraudulent transactions amounting to 5043.7 crore rupees over the last fifteen months.
This success marks a shift from tracking stolen money to intercepting payments in real time, according to statements by Aabhaas Sharma.
The system is called the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) and was launched by the Department of Telecommunications in May 2025. It assigns risk ratings—medium, high, or very high—to mobile numbers. These alerts are sent directly to banks and UPI platforms, enabling them to warn customers or block risky payments.
According to experts, the most significant achievement of this system has been increasing the cost of conducting fraudulent operations. However, experts note that fraudsters can use SIM cards obtained through fraudulent KYC or virtual numbers. Furthermore, criminals are capable of bypassing phone number risk assessments using new or 'old' SIM cards.