20 per cent success rate in Delhi in tracing hoax calls

The Delhi police has failed to trace any of the hoax calls generated through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services and has success rate of mere 20 per cent in tracing hoax callers.

Recently, hoax calls have disrupted flight operations and led to lockdown of schools in the national capital, throwing security officials into a tizzy. A committee assesses hoax calls and keeps tab on action taken report on each call.

“Hoax calls are received by the police control room on a regular basis, but there are some major ones — with very high threat perception — which cause huge loss of time, effort and money. They are marked separately in police records,” a senior police official said.

While 10 such calls were marked in the police records in 2015, as many as 15 were reported so far this year. Of the 15 calls, only three were successfully traced, the official added.

In all the three cases, the calls were executed through mobile numbers, while the untraceable calls were executed through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services.

Several senior Delhi police officials claimed that VoIP calls cannot be traced because the providers of the service are mostly based in foreign countries and it takes a long time to get the details requested for.

And also the numbers that flash in many of the cases turn out to be foreign numbers, in connection with which taking action is complicated in any case.

However, Kislay Chaudhary, cyber-crime adviser to security agencies, said, “All VoIP calls, like ISD calls, are directed through the VSNL server. The protocol demands marking the call and requesting for the source, following which the IP address (if computer generated) or mobile number (for app-based calls) can be obtained.”

Of the 15 hoax calls this year, six were received in connection with flights and the IGI Airport, one about bomb threat in Parliament and two led to hour-long lock-downs in two prominent private schools in the city.