Citizens getting calls from callers posing as the Department of Telecom officials and threatening to disconnect their connections are fake calls to steal the personal information of individuals and carry out financial frauds, an official statement said on Friday.

The DoT also issued an advisory about WhatsApp calls from foreign-origin mobile numbers (like +92-xxxxxxxxxx), impersonating government officials and duping the people.

"The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued an advisory to citizens that calls are being received by the citizens wherein callers, in the name of DoT, are threatening that all of their mobile numbers would be disconnected or their mobile numbers are being misused in some illegal activities. Cybercriminals through such calls try to threaten/steal personal information to carry out cyber-crime/financial frauds," the statement said.

The DoT said it does not authorise anyone to make such calls on its behalf and has advised people to stay vigilant and asked not to share any information on receiving such calls.

"The DoT has advised citizens to report such fraud communications at the 'Chakshu-Report Suspected Fraud Communications' facility of the Sanchar Saathi portal. Such proactive reporting helps the DoT in prevention of misuse of telecom resources for cyber-crime, financial frauds, etc," the statement said.

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