Principal Investigator: Dr. Shruti Mantri

Co-Investigator: Professor Manish Gangwar, Executive Director, IIDS

Team: Sreshta Rikka, Data Analyst-cum-TA

Project Start Date: June 2022

Status: Ongoing

Project Sponsor: Telangana State Police Centre of Excellence for Cyber Safety

Abstract:

Subscription fraud involves obtaining customer KYC details needed for signing new SIM cards or services with valid authorization and using the SIM cards for fraudulent activities. The effects of the damage done can be catastrophic in terms of financial fraud, poor customer experience, and brand damage. Telecom service providers face a massive challenge as they must overcome fraud while complying with Department of Telecommunication regulations (DOT). Currently, most telecom service providers use standard customer identity validation and verification techniques, which are ineffective in detecting and controlling subscription fraud.

In this project, the researchers have performed:

(i) A risk assessment of the current customer identity verification process, 

(ii) Analyzed the SIM registration policies in 160 countries, and 

(iii) Proposed multi-channel online identification validation methods, including knowledge-based validation, phone authentication, address validation, and one-time password use.

The recommendations proposed are a multi-layered risk-based approach that leverages intelligent analytics, predictive decision policies, and knowledge-based authentication to enable real-time identity verification and regulatory compliance. This project was undertaken as part of an MOU signed with the Cyber Security Center for Excellence, Telangana Police; hence, the project recommendations and report are submitted to Telangana Police.