RBI suggests banks to use DoT’s Financial Fraud Risk Indicator to prevent cyber swindling

The RBI has adviced banks to use DoT’s new FRI system, which flags risky mobile numbers linked to fraud. This helps banks stop suspicious transactions quickly and protect users, making digital payments in India safer and more secure

New Delhi: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) sees the RBI’s advisory to banks to integrate the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) developed by it into their systems as a “watershed moment in the fight against cyber-enabled financial frauds”.

The RBI’s advisory to all scheduled commercial banks, small finance banks, payments banks, and co-operative banks, issued on June 30, is a testament to the power of inter-agency collaboration in safeguarding citizens in India’s growing digital economy, according to a DoT statement issued on Wednesday.

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It also underscores the strategic importance of automating data exchange between banks and the DoT’s DIP through API-based integration, enabling real-time responsiveness and continuous feedback to further refine the fraud risk models, the statement said.

The Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI), launched in May 2025 by DoT’s Digital Intelligence Unit (DIU), is a risk-based metric that classifies a mobile number to have been associated with medium, high, or very high risk of financial fraud. This classification is an outcome of inputs obtained from various stakeholders, including reporting on the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’s (I4C) National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), the DoT’s Chakshu platform, and Intelligence shared by banks and financial institutions.

It empowers stakeholders – especially banks, NBFCs, and UPI service providers- to prioritise enforcement and take additional customer protection measures in case a mobile number has a high risk. The Digital Intelligence Unit (DIU) of the DoT regularly shares the Mobile Number Revocation List (MNRL) with stakeholders, detailing numbers disconnected due to cybercrime links, failed re-verification, or misuse, many of which are tied to financial fraud.

Banks and financial institutions can use FRI in real time to take preventive measures such as declining suspicious transactions, issuing alerts or warnings to customers, and delaying transactions flagged as high risk.

The system’s utility has already been demonstrated with leading institutions such as PhonePe, Punjab National Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Paytm, and India Post Payments Bank actively using the platform. With UPI being the most preferred payment method across India, this intervention could save millions of citizens from falling prey to cyber fraud. The FRI allows for swift, targeted, and collaborative action against suspected fraud in both telecom and financial domains, according to the DoT statement.

DoT said that it remains committed to supporting banks and financial institutions in their efforts to combat cyber-enabled fraud by deploying technology-led, nationally coordinated solutions like the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator. This move marks a new era of digital trust and security, reinforcing the Government’s broader Digital India vision.

DoT also said that it continues to work closely with RBI-regulated entities to streamline alert mechanisms, accelerate fraud detection, and integrate telecom intelligence directly into banking workflows. As more institutions adopt FRI into their customer-facing systems, it is expected to evolve into a sector-wide standard, reinforcing trust, enabling real-time decision-making, and delivering greater systemic resilience across India’s digital financial architecture, the statement added.