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24th October 2024 (10 Topics)

4. Rising Cyber Fraud in India

Context

India is facing a staggering increase in cyber fraud, with projections from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) estimating potential losses of over Rs 1.2 lakh crore in the next year. This alarming figure highlights the escalating threat of cybercrime, particularly involving illicit transactions through mule bank accounts.

Key Findings

  • Sources of Cyber Fraud
    • International Origins: A significant proportion of scams are traced back to China and Chinese-linked entities. Other origins include Cambodia and Myanmar, where scam operations often resemble call centers.
    • Domestic Scams: There are also scams run within India, where money is siphoned off after being transferred through multiple accounts.
    • Mule Bank Accounts: Mule bank accounts are financial accounts used to facilitate illegal transactions and money laundering. They play a critical role in enabling cybercriminals to execute scams while obscuring their identity.
      • Prevalence: Investigating agencies identify approximately 4,000 mule bank accounts daily, indicating the widespread nature of this issue.
  • Economic Impact
    • Projected Losses: The financial impact of these scams could reach 0.7% of India’s GDP, threatening to cripple the economy.
    • Recent Data: From January to June 2023, reported losses from financial fraud amounted to Rs 11,269 crore, as documented through the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) cybercrime portal and helpline.

Government Measure to tackle Cyber Crimes in India

  • Cybercrime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC) Scheme: It supports financially to States/UTs for developing capabilities of Law Enforcement Agencies in investigating cyber-crimes.
  • Joint Cyber Coordination Teams: Constituted to enhance coordination among Law Enforcement Agencies of States/UTs, particularly in areas with multi-jurisdictional issues related to cyber-crimes.
  • CyTrain Portal: A Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) Platform to empower police officers, judicial officers, and prosecutors through online courses on critical aspects of cyber-crime investigation, forensics, and prosecution through capacity building.
  • Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C): It coordinates all activities to tackle all types of cyber-crimes across the country.
  • National Cyber Forensic Laboratory: It provides early-stage cyber forensic assistance to Investigating Officers of all State/UT Police through both online and offline modes.
  • National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal: A reporting Platform for victims to report incidents of cyber-crimes, with a special focus on crimes against women and children.
  • Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System: It is a dynamic system for immediate reporting of financial frauds and assistance in lodging online cyber complaints through a toll-free helpline.
  • Cyber Surakshit Bharat Initiative: It was launched in 2018 with an aim to spread awareness about cybercrime and build capacity for safety measures for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT staff across all government departments.
  • National Cybersecurity Coordination Centre (NCCC): Its mandate is to scan internet traffic and communication metadata (which are little snippets of information hidden inside each communication) coming into the country to detect real-time cyber threats.
  • Cyber Swachhta Kendra: In 2017, this platform was introduced for internet users to clean their computers and devices by wiping out viruses and malware.
  • National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) functions as the nodal agency for the coordination of all cyber security efforts, emergency responses, and crisis management.
  • Information Technology Act, 2000: The Act regulates the use of computers, computer systems, computer networks and also data and information in electronic format.
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