RBI Guidelines to Prevent Fraud Transactions: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken a step to prevent financial fraud. On Friday, RBI told banks that only phones with ‘1600xx’ number series should be used to call customers for transaction related purposes.
RBI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken a step to prevent financial fraud. On Friday, RBI told banks that only phones with ‘1600xx’ number series should be used to call customers for transaction related purposes. Along with this, RBI also said that banks and other regulated entities (REs) should use only phones with ‘140xx’ number series for promotional purposes.
Concrete action to prevent fraud
RBI has also asked banks and other regulated entities to monitor and delete customer related data to prevent financial fraud done through phone calls and SMS. The Reserve Bank has also said that with the spread of digital transactions, along with convenience and efficiency, fraud has also increased, which is a matter of serious concern. RBI has also pointed out the need for concrete action.
Security of mobile number
The customer’s mobile number has emerged as a ubiquitous identifier. It is helpful in the account authentication and verification process through sensitive payment communications such as OTP, transaction alerts and account updates. RBI has said that the customer’s mobile number can be misused by fraudsters in many ways to commit various types of online and other frauds. According to the Reserve Bank, to avoid this apprehension, banks should make transaction / service calls only through ‘1600xx’ number series and make promotional phone calls only through phone numbers in the ‘140xx’ series.
Follow the guidelines
Along with this, the central bank has also asked to follow important guidelines for sending commercial communications using telecom resources through voice calls or SMS issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). RBI asked banks and NBFCs (non-banking financial companies) to use the Mobile Number Revocation List (MNRL) available on the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) developed by the Department of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Communications to monitor and delete their customer database.
Deadline
To enhance monitoring and prevention of fraud risk, regulated entities have been asked to develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) incorporating necessary actions. The circular states that attention will also have to be paid to updating the registered mobile number (RMN) after proper verification and increasing monitoring of accounts linked to canceled mobile numbers. This is necessary to prevent accounts linked to phone numbers from being involved in cyber fraud. The Reserve Bank has asked all regulated entities to ensure compliance with these instructions expeditiously and this work should be done by March 31, 2025 in any case.
