Govt to remove Amitabh Bachchan’s cyber fraud caller tune today, here’s why

The cybercrime awareness caller tune featuring actor Amitabh Bachchan’s voice will reportedly be removed soon. The 40-second caller tune, which was used to play before every phone call, will no longer be played, a report by NDTV said. It was part of a government campaign to make people aware of increasing cyber fraud in India. However, it has been facing criticism from users, as many of them called it annoying, especially during emergency situations. 

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Many users took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their frustration over the caller tune. They said that caller tunes used to cause delays during emergencies, making it harder to connect urgent calls. However, the campaign has ended, and hence, the caller tune will also be removed now, the NDTV report mentioned, citing one of their sources. 

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Recently, Big B also faced trolling over the repeated warning message on X. A social media user cheekily commented, “Toh phone pe bola band kro bhai” to one of Big B’s posts, to which the veteran actor replied by saying, “Sarkar ko bolo bhai, unhone jo kaha humne kar diya.”

For the unversed, Amitabh Bachchan was roped in by the Union Home Ministry’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) for the caller tune awareness campaign against cyber fraud last year in September 2024. The government launched the campaign to prevent users from falling victim to the rising cyber fraud cases in India. 

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In December 2024, the government even directed the telecom operators to play Big B’s cybercrime awareness caller tune 8-10 times per day to telephone subscribers for three months.

This isn’t the first time that Big B was roped in for government campaigns. Earlier, he has also been the voice and face of several awareness campaigns run by the government. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a similar pre-recorded caller tune on precautions against the Coronavirus used to be played before rings.

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Himani Jha

Himani Jha is a tech news writer at Digit. Passionate about smartphones and consumer technology, she has contributed to leading publications such as Times Network, Gadgets 360, and Hindustan Times Tech for the past five years. When not immersed in gadgets, she enjoys exploring the vibrant culinary scene, discovering new cafes and restaurants, and indulging in her love for fine literature and timeless music. View Full Profile