In the new era of digitalisation, scams are a new threat to all users. Airtel took an initiative to help safeguard its users across all communication platforms from online scams. This new initiative is an AI-powered fraud detection solution that identifies and blocks suspicious or malicious websites in real-time and gives protection to your mobile and broadband users from email, web, SMS, and OTT applications-based scams or threats by popping up a warning sign on screen before jumping on the webpage.
On 15th May, 2025, Airtel, also known by the name of Bharti Airtel Limited, is one of India's leading telecom companies. It has recently announced its fraud detection system that is driven by AI, which is a world-first of its kind, specially designed for the identification of malicious websites across all communication platforms in real time and block them from the users' ends and let them stay safe from online scams and threats. This solution comes with auto-enabled for all Airtel mobile and broadband users.
The initiative is back on launch in September 2024, where Airtel shares a note on AI-powered spam detection service. Airtel tell the world about how over 430 million mobile and broadband users are at potential risk of spam and unsolicited communications.
The Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Airtel, Gopal Vittal, shares his thoughts on this initiative by saying, "Over the last few years, we have come across several instances where unsuspecting customers have been defrauded by ingenious criminals of their hard-earned money." He also added, "Our engineers have tried to solve this problem through the launch of our Fraud Detection Solution. We believe this will provide our customers total peace of mind while browsing the internet without the worry of getting scammed."
How does Airtel fraud detection work?
In the press release where Airtel was announcing its fraud detection solutions, it explained how the system works by showing a pictorial representation. The telecom operator filters the domain across all platforms, leveraging AI and inspecting DNS (Domain Name System) and checking whether they are listed in a blocklist or violate any predefined security policy. Those with the safelinks are secured and will be allowed to users, while the links found malicious will be blocked.
In the press release, Airtel states, "When a customer tries to access a website flagged as malicious by Airtel's advanced security system, the page load is blocked, and customers are redirected to a page explaining the reason for the block."
Features of Airtel's Fraud Detection System
Gopal Vittal explains in this statement that, "Our AI based tool scans internet traffic, checks with global repositories and our own database of threat actors in real-time and blocks fraudulent websites." The prime objective of this new fraud detection system is to keep the user safe from any online threat, and it includes-
- Filtering out by identifying the spam calls.
- Recognising any fishy or spam messages.
- Implementing a multi-tier intelligence platform to safeguard consumers against scams and fraud.
- The protection against frauds, scams, malicious threats, etc, will be in real time.
- Inspects Domain Name System (DNS) queries and categorizes them into Fraud links and Safe links.
- Providing protection across all platforms at no extra cost. Users don't need to pay for any activation since it comes with auto-enabling.
Who will get the benefit?
Airtel has around 38 crore users in India, and they have aimed to provide the benefits of their new initiative against online scams and fraud to their mobile and broadband users. Currently, Airtel has made it live in the Haryana circle, and they are waiting for the results for the trial period and expecting an unmatchable precision since it is driven by Artificial Intelligence. After that, it will be spread across the country once they ensure complete safety.
Airtel said that this system has reached a high level of accuracy during its trial period of six months. Gopal said, "Our solution has already reached a remarkable level of accuracy in the 6 months of trials. We will continue working relentlessly until we have made our networks completely safe from spam and scams." Airtel's fraud detection system supports nearly 10 Indian languages, including English (the existing), Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. The service is available on all communication platforms, such as over-the-top (OTT) platforms, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, and emails, web browsers, and SMS.
Conclusion
Internet frauds, deceptive calls, and OTP scams are rising day by day, and there are millions of users have been fallen into such traps. With this new initiative, Airtel is offering a safer and protective online communication experience powered by AI, broadening the spectrum of scams and frauds through its domain filtering and being designed for cross-platform use. There would be no additional cost for the use since it is freely available or will automatically be enabled for all Airtel mobile and broadband users to safeguard themselves.