Airtel develops AI-based solution to tackle fraud messages

Bharti Airtel has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning-based solution to proactively detect, prevent, and eliminate phishing, spam, and fraud through messaging, and is testing it in partnership with HDFC Bank.

The solution creates an anti-spam filter, and at its peak, it succeeded in detecting and blocking two million messages a day, the telco said in a letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman PD Vaghela, dated April 27. ET has seen a copy of the letter.

"Direct connectivity has been established between Airtel and HDFC to help secure end-to-end SMS (short messaging service) connectivity and flagging any other route," the telco said in the letter.

Airtel added that it is also in talks with the banking industry and other entities to demonstrate the solution.

Curbing phishing and cyber frauds through unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) have been the topmost priority of Trai and other financial regulators as it leads to estimated financial losses worth ₹1,000-1,500 crore every month. In addition to mandating the telcos to deploy distributed ledger technology to curb fraud and spam messages, Trai has also asked them to deploy AI-based solutions to tackle the menace of financial fraud/phishing.

Vodafone Idea (Vi) last month became the first telecom operator to showcase its anti-phishing solution to Trai as well as financial regulators the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

The operator, which is currently running a trial of the solution developed by Tanla Platforms, has come out with an efficacy rate of over 99%. Trai had then asked Airtel and Reliance Jio too to showcase their anti-phishing solution by May.

Airtel's solution sits outside the mandated DLT process and has been deployed over the past two to three months. It tags the brand and telemarketer so that there is no misuse of the header or template. Headers are the short code that appears in the sender id for promotional or transactional messages, and template refers to a predefined message format that brands register with the telco.

The solution also has a feature to protect customers from getting any fraud or spam messages from the A2P (application to person) or P2P (person to person) route.