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About this tool
Build your 1909 DND preference command, classify a spam caller's number series and check whether you are still inside the TRAI complaint window.
The DND and Spam Call Control Guide turns the TRAI Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 into three things you can act on: the exact command to send to 1909 for a full or category-wise Do Not Disturb preference, a reading of what number series a nuisance call came from, and a check on whether you are still inside the three-day window for complaining about an unsolicited communication. The seven preference categories run from banking and insurance through to tourism and leisure, and a registered preference must take effect within seven days.
Open DND and Spam Call Control Guide on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Under 'What do you want to do?' choose 'Block everything (fully blocked)', 'Block only the categories I choose', or 'Remove my preference entirely'.
For a partial preference tick categories 1-7, from banking and insurance through to tourism and leisure, and enter the 'Number the call or message came from' with 'Date it arrived'.
Read the command shown under 'Send this to 1909' plus 'Days left to complain', then press 'Copy result'.
Turns your chosen categories into the string to send to 1909, sorted and de-duplicated.
Separates 140-series promotional traffic, 1600-series service calls and ordinary mobile numbers.
Counts the days since the message arrived against the three-day limit and dates the deadline.
Send your preference command by SMS to 1909, call 1909, or set it in your operator's app or the TRAI DND app. The fully blocked option stops promotional communication in every category; a partial preference blocks only the categories you pick from the seven listed in the regulations. Registration is free and the access provider must give effect to it within seven days.
Three days from receiving it. Register the complaint through 1909 or your operator's app with the sender's number, the date and the time, and the text of the message where there is one. After the window closes, that particular message can no longer form the basis of a complaint, though it remains useful as supporting evidence for a pattern.
A preference binds registered telemarketers, which make promotional voice calls from the 140 series. Marketing from an ordinary ten-digit mobile number comes from an unregistered telemarketer and is a breach whatever your preference says — the remedy there is to complain about the specific number, since repeated complaints can lead to disconnection. Service messages such as one-time passwords and delivery alerts are never blocked, and consent you gave a business through its own signup can override a category preference until you revoke it.
DND is about unwanted marketing. The Chakshu facility on sancharsaathi.gov.in is for suspected fraud communication — a fake KYC alert, a lottery win, a job offer that asks for money. If the message is trying to defraud you rather than sell to you, report it there, and call the cyber crime helpline 1930 if money has already moved.