The Reserve Bank of India on Friday has laid out certain norms for regulated entities in a move to mitigate potential misuse of mobile numbers in financial frauds.
RBI has advised lenders to use the mobile number revocation list available on the digital intelligence platform and said that the government will clean their customer base, the central bank said in a statement on Friday.
Lenders must also develop standard operating procedures, including updating registered mobile numbers after due verification, and enhance monitoring of accounts linked to revoked mobile numbers. This will help with prevention of frauds and linked accounts being operated as money mule or involved with cyber frauds, the RBI said.
All regulated entities have been asked to comply with these norms by March 31.
Further, the central bank has also asked lenders to undertake service calls using only the 1600xx number series when operationalised and undertake promotional calls using only the 1400xx number series.
They should follow important guidelines for sending commercial communication through calls or SMS and are advised to undertake awareness steps via emails, SMS, and in vernacular languages.
This move by the regulator has come as the proliferation of digital transactions, while offering convenience and efficiency, has led to a surge in frauds.
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