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Paytm run by One97 Communications Ltd, has moved the Delhi High Court contending that the telecom service providers have not blocked fraudsters who are defrauding its customers by "phishing" activities.
Paytm claimed that many of its customers have been defrauded by the phishing activities and the failure of the telecom companies to prevent this has "caused financial and reputational loss" to it and henceforth, it has sought damages worth Rs 100 crore from such telecom companies.
Phishing is considered to be a cybercrime wherein people are connected by email, calls, or messages by someone posing oneself to be a legitimate representative of an organization in order to lure them and get all the sensitive or private data, like banking, card details, and passwords.
Paytm through its petition has asserted that the telecom giants like Airtel, Reliance Jio, BSNL, MTNL, and Vodafone are not following their duties and obligations under the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preferences Regulations (TCCCPR) 2018 as was notified by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to control unsought commercial communications.
Paytm held that the telecom majors under the regulations are required to verify telemarketers seeking registration (called registered telemarketers) before granting access to their customer data and also take action against all fraudulent RTMs.
Paytm contended that the telecoms have failed to verify and undertake proper registration which has given rise to phishing activities. Also, it is the responsibility of them to prevent fraud by blocking them.
Paytm contended that people or entities get registered with the telecom companies and get themselves assigned to Paytm, PYTM, PTM, IPAYTN, PYTKYC, and its subsidiaries and then send them messages for extracting their personal information, including account details and passwords.
Fraudulent RTMs contact the customers and seek personal information under the garb of requirements for KYC for making their Paytm wallets operational.
Paytm has sought directions from the court to TRAI to ensure strict implementation of the provisions of TCCCPR in order to curb fraudulent commercial communications and to take stricter action against these telecom giants. It asked centre not to sell a sim card without proper verification and establish an inter-agency task force to enforce the same. It also sought a direction to telecom majors to take steps under provisions of TCCCPR and block the numbers sending such unsolicited commercial communications.
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