Unregulated mobile apps fuel cyber frauds: COAI
«People are misusing genuine OTT platforms to bypass the system because they are not regulated, they are not subject to any security regulations.
So then it’s not good for the country, and for our citizens,» SP Kochhar, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India (Coai) told ETTelecom.
Delhi-based Coai represents incumbent telecom carriers — Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.
Kochhar said that WhatsApp frauds have been rampant with many recent instances of Pink WhatsApp-related scams.
WhatsApp Pink, which claims to offer enhanced features, is a fake version of the popular messaging app WhatsApp, owned by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta.
Of late, WhatsApp Pink scam has duped several people, forcing law enforcement agencies and police departments of multiple states across India issuing advisory against this fraud.
In addition, mobile apps-led unsolicited voice calls and texts have become one of the leading sources of cyber frauds prompting telecom regulators to take necessary actions.
In July this year, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) during a meeting with WhatsApp, Telegram, Meta, and Google representatives asked them to devise strategies to check pesky calls and messages, and phishing attempts.
Telecom service providers and OTT players are at warpath as the former seeking communication OTT platforms or mobile apps, taking a free ride on mobile networks, to come under a regulatory ambit, and even advocated a revenue sharing model or a monetary contribution towards setting up of mobile networks.
The Internet and Mobile Association of India (Iamai) decried the telecom industry's stand, and said that any such move may be a death knell for India's digital economy.
Iamai is a lobby
