Telecom takes on ‘tele-con’: How Airtel is cracking down on online fraud using power of AI

Bangaluru/Mangaluru/Mysuru: Bharti Airtel recently announced significant progress in its mission to protect customers in Karnataka from rising online frauds.

As part of a nationwide rollout of its AI-powered fraud detection system, Airtel has successfully blocked more than 180,000 malicious links and safeguarded more than 2.3 million users across the state — within 25 days of launching its advanced fraud-detection system, an official release says.

Automatically enabled for all Airtel mobile and broadband customers, the advanced system scans and filters links across SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, E-mail and other browsers.

It also leverages real-time threat intelligence to examine over 1 billion URLs daily and blocks access to harmful sites in under 100 milliseconds.

For instance, if a resident in Mangaluru receives a suspicious message that reads: “Your package is delayed. Track it here: http://www.tracky0urparcell.com”; and if the unsuspecting resident then clicks on the link, Airtel’s system also clicks into gear.

It instantly scans the link and if flagged as suspicious, it blocks access.

The user is redirected to a warning message that reads: “Blocked! Airtel found this site dangerous!”

All this is done instantaneously. This real-time interception prevents users from falling victim to all kinds of frauds.

Commenting on the initiative, Rajnish Verma, CEO (Karnataka) Bharti Airtel, said; “At Airtel, we are dedicated to protecting our customers from various types of fraud. By incorporating our network with an AI-driven fraud detection solution, we guarantee that our customers are protected from all new threats without requiring any action on their part. We consider it crucial to act now to secure the digital environment of tomorrow, and we take pride in being at the forefront of this initiative.”

With Karnataka ranked as one of India’s most digitally advanced states, the threat of online fraud has grown in both its urban and rural regions.

Fraudsters increasingly target users through phishing links, fake deliveries and spurious banking alerts. Cities like Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Belagavi, Chikkamagaluru and Hassan among others — have seen a sharp rise in such fraudulent attempts.

Airtel’s solution acts as a statewide digital shield, protecting families, senior citizens, homemakers, students and first-time smartphone users alike, the release says.

The AI-driven platform delivers fraud warnings in the user’s preferred language, including Kannada, making it highly effective for the state’s diverse population.

This multilingual support is especially impactful in districts with low digital literacy or where English is not widely used.

The solution operates silently in the background, requires no installation and is offered free of cost.