Lucknow: India’s rapidly expanding digital economy is witnessing a parallel rise in cyber fraud, with scams becoming increasingly sophisticated and extending beyond conventional spam calls and phishing messages to include impersonation, fake banking requests, malicious links, investment scams and OTP-related financial fraud.
According to data cited by Airtel, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has reported that Indians lost more than ₹52,976 crore to cyber fraud over the past six years. National Crime Records Bureau data has also indicated a sustained increase in reported cybercrime cases.
With digital services now deeply integrated into banking, payments, healthcare, commerce and government services, telecom networks are increasingly being positioned as an additional layer of digital protection.
Airtel said it launched a network-based, AI-powered spam detection solution in 2024, using network intelligence and artificial intelligence to identify spam calls and SMS messages without requiring customers to install separate applications.
Over the past two years, the company has expanded its AI-powered Safe Network initiative into a broader set of network-level digital safety tools.
According to Airtel, its systems have identified more than 98.4 billion spam calls and 4.4 billion spam messages since the launch of its AI-driven spam detection system in September 2024.
The company has also deployed a malicious-link detection system designed to identify fraudulent websites and suspicious links in real time. Airtel said the system has blocked more than 1.62 million malicious links shared through SMS, messaging applications, emails and browser redirects for its mobile and Wi-Fi broadband subscribers.
Another component of the initiative focuses on OTP-linked fraud. Airtel said its AI-based protection is designed to identify suspicious interactions in which users may be manipulated into revealing OTPs or other sensitive credentials.
The company has additionally introduced business name display capabilities intended to help users distinguish enterprise calls from potentially fraudulent numbers. The feature is aimed at reducing risks associated with impersonation scams involving fake banking and customer-care representatives.
Airtel said its Safe Network initiative represents a broader shift towards network-level digital safety, with telecom infrastructure increasingly being used not only to provide connectivity but also to identify and mitigate risks within digital communications.
