Lok Sabha Question No. 183 (STARRED), answered on 2022-12-20
Subject: OTPs based Cyber Frauds
Ministry: HOME AFFAIRS
Asked by: L.S. Tejasvi Surya, Prathap Simha

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *183

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 20 TH  DECEMBER, 2022/ AGRAHAYANA 29, 1944 (SAKA)

OTPs BASED CYBER FRAUDS

*183.      SHRI L.S. TEJASVI SURYA: SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA:

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  there  is  a  centrally  organized  department  to  tackle  cyber crimes  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  nature  of  online transactions;

(b) the measures/steps taken by the Government to prevent OTP-based and other cyber frauds;

(c)  the  number  of  cyber  frauds  registered  on  the  Government's  Central Helpline and the number of successful preventions/actions taken on them; and

(d) whether the Government has provided additional funds to the States to equip their Cyber Police Stations better and if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI AJAY KUMAR MISHRA)

(a) to (d):    A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (d) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*183 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20-12-2022.

(a) & (b): 'Police' and 'Public Order' are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule  of  the  Constitution  of  India. The  States/UTs  are  primarily responsible for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crimes  including  cyber  crimes  through  their  Law  Enforcement  Agencies (LEAs).  The  LEAs  take  legal  action  as  per  the  provisions  of  law  against persons involved in cyber crime. The Central Government supplements the initiatives  of  the  States/UTs  through  advisories  and  financial  assistance under various schemes for their capacity building.

To strengthen the mechanism to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive  and  coordinated  manner,  the  Central  Government  has taken steps which, inter-alia, include the following:

- i. Ministry of Home  Affairs has set up the 'Indian  Cyber  Crime Coordination Centre (I4C)' to deal with all types of cyber crime in the country, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.
- ii. The National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) has  been  launched  on  30 th   August  2019,  as  a  part  of  the  I4C,  to enable  public  to  report  incidents  pertaining  to  all  types  of cyber

crimes,  with  special  focus  on  cyber  crimes  against  women  and children. Cyber crime incidents reported on this portal, their conversion into FIRs and subsequent action thereon are handled by the State/UT Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) concerned as per the provisions of the law.

- iii. The Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting  and  Management System,  under  I4C,  has  been  launched  for  immediate  reporting  of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters. A toll-free  Helpline  number  '1930'  has  been  operationalized  to  get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints.
- iv. The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platform, namely 'CyTrain' portal has been developed under the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), for  capacity building of police officers/judicial officers through online course on critical aspects of cyber crime investigation,  forensics,  prosecution  etc.  along  with  certification. More than 27,900 Police Officers from States/UTs are registered and more than 7,300 Certificates issued through the portal.
- v. Seven Joint Cyber Coordination Teams have been constituted under I4C  by  on  boarding  States/UTs  to  address  the  challenges  of  cyber crime  hotspots/areas  having  multi  jurisdictional  issues  to  enhance the coordination framework among the LEAs of the States/UTs.

- vi. The Ministry of Home Affairs has provided financial assistance to the States/UTs under Cyber Crime Prevention against Women & Children (CCPWC)  scheme  for  their  capacity  building  such  as  setting  up  of cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories, capacity building and hiring of junior cyber consultants. Cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories have been commissioned in 30 States/UTs namely Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Odisha, Sikkim, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Meghalaya,  Nagaland,  Dadra  and  Nagar  Haveli  &  Daman  and  Diu, Punjab, Tripura, Puducherry,  Chandigarh,  J&K,  Rajasthan,  West Bengal, Delhi and Jharkhand.
- vii. To  spread  awareness  on  cyber  crime,  the  Central  Government  has taken  steps  which,  inter-alia,  include;  dissemination  of  messages through SMS, I4C social media account i.e. Twitter handle (@ Cyberdost),  Facebook (Cyber Dost I4C),  Instagram (cyberdosti4c), Telegram(cyberdosti4c),  Radio  campaign,  etc.,  engaged  MyGov  for publicity in multiple mediums, organizing Cyber Safety and Security Awareness  weeks  in  association  with  States/UTs,  publishing  of Handbook  for  Adolescents/Students,  etc.  The  States/UTs  have  also been requested to carry out publicity to create mass awareness.

## L.S.S.Q. NO.*183 FOR 20.12.2022

(c): Since  inception  of  Citizen  Financial  Cyber  Fraud  Reporting  and Management System, more than 6 lakh complaints have been registered till  December  12,  2022,  and  in  more  than  1.11  lakh  complaints,  so  far, financial amount of more than Rs.188 Crore have been saved.

(d): Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  has  provided  central  assistance  under 'Assistance  to  States  for  Modernization  of  Police'  Scheme  to  the  State Governments  for  the  acquisition  of  latest  weaponry,  training  gadgets, advanced  communication/forensic  equipment,  Cyber  Policing  equipment etc.  The  State  Governments  formulate  State  Action  Plans  (SAPs)  as  per their  strategic  priorities  and  requirements  including  combating  cyber crimes. The amounts of Central financial assistance disbursed under this scheme during the last 4 financial years is as below:

(Rs. in Crore)

| Year    |   Allocation | Released   |
|---------|--------------|------------|
| 2018-19 |       769    | 768.83     |
| 2019-20 |       811.3  | 781.12     |
| 2020-21 |       770.76 | 103.25*    |
| 2021-22 |       620.45 | 158.56*    |

(*Funds against allocations could not be released to most of the States as they had substantial unspent balances.)

*****