Airtel launches AI-powered fraud alert system to crack down on OTP-related banking scams
Airtel has launched an AI-powered fraud alert system for users. The effort is to detect OPT-related banking frauds. This is what we know so far.
We often hear about digital fraud and these news do not even surprise us. To tackle the growing threat, Bharti Airtel has launched a new AI-supported fraud alert system. Airtel’s new feature has been developed to protect users from OTP (one-time password)-related banking frauds in real-time. The solution is currently available in Haryana and Airtel says it will be rolled out to customers across the country in the next two weeks.
How Airtel’s AI-powered fraud alert system works
Fraudsters often pose as agents; This agent can be a delivery person, customer support executive or a service representative. These fake agents manipulate customers and pressure them to share OTPs related to banking transactions. And once the OTP is disclosed, the customer’s bank account can be compromised.
Airtel’s new AI-supported system is designed to detect suspicious activity and alert customers immediately during calls. How?
When bank OTP is detected during a potentially risky incoming call, Airtel immediately issues a fraud alert. The alert warns customers that sharing OTP for banking transactions during a call can be dangerous.
By combining AI intelligence with real-time alerts, the system gives customers the opportunity to pause, evaluate the situation and avoid falling victim to scams, addressing security gaps often exploited by fraudsters.
Over the past two years, Airtel has implemented several AI-powered security measures, including spam call alerts and malicious link blocking, aimed at preventing fraud at an early stage.
Bharti Airtel’s fraud detection solution significantly curbed cyber crime-related losses last year, according to a report by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C), which operates under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). This system helped reduce the value of financial losses on its network by approximately 68.7%. Overall, cyber crime incidents recorded on the Airtel network also declined by about 14.3% during the period analyzed.
“Our newly developed, AI-powered, autonomous solution works proactively at the network level and is engineered to detect and intervene against fraudulent activity in real-time. Extensive trials have demonstrated remarkable levels of accuracy and effectiveness in curbing the menace of such scams,” said Shashwat Sharma, Managing Director and CEO, Airtel.
Although these measures have significantly curbed fraud on the network, scammers continue to take advantage of fake identities and psychological manipulation. The newly launched AI-powered fraud alert system represents another step in enhancing user security.
