The Telecommunications Department (DoT) has launched a 10-digit phone number starting with “160” to curb the menace of spam calls. It was found that the existing ‘Do Not Disturb (DND)’ function, when activated, had also blocked people’s important calls. To bypass this issue, DoT launched the 160 series to enable people to identify genuine calls from spam calls.
Also Read: RBI Annual Report: Banking Frauds Increased Almost Three Times Y-O-Y In 2023-24 In its notification, DoT said new number series will help curb spam calls significantly and it will be used exclusively for services and transaction calls. It will particularly help senior citizens and other vulnerable people from fraud and spam calls.
What Is The Purpose?
Currently, the same number series, starting with 140, is used for making service, transactional, and promotional calls. However, the maximum number of calls were made for promotional purposes. So, when people have stopped receiving calls from that number, they end up missing important calls. Moreover, it made it difficult for people to identify and determine whether the call was from a genuine source.
Who Can Use This Number Series?
According to the DoT’s notification, 160 number series will be allotted to government entities, regulatory bodies, and financial entities, such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities and Exchange Board of India Sebi), Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India (PFRDA), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI), etc. They will use the 160 series when making a service or transaction call. The notification stipulates that the telecom operator will verify this number before allocating it to different entities. This is to enhance customers’ confidence in “the legitimacy of calls from the 160xxxxxxx series, reducing the risk of falling victim to scams”, it said. As per Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation (TCCCPR), 2018, this number series can only be used for service and transactional voice calls. However, people can report to the Chakshu facility at the Sanchar Saathi web portal if they receive spam calls from this number.
Also Read: Is Real Estate Investing A Safe Option For Senior Citizens?Number Format:
The 10-digit number prefixed 160 is constituted in a manner so that anyone can identify the calling entity, telecom operator, and call’s origin. For instance, a call from a government entity or regulated body will be from 160-0-XXXXXX (after the three-digit prefix 160, the fourth digit will be ‘0’, and the next two digits will be the telecom circle code (11 for Delhi, 22 for Kolkata, etc.). The seventh digit will show the code of the telecom operator, and the last three digits will be random between 000 and 999. Financial entities will be denoted with ‘1’ after the prefix, like 160-1-XXXXXX.
