Lok Sabha Question No. 201 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-07
Subject: Online Financial Frauds
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Sudarshan Bhagat, Janardan Singh Sigriwal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 201

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 7.12.2022

## ONLINE FINANCIAL FRAUDS

## 201.   SHRI SUDARSHAN BHAGAT: SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL:

Will  the  Minister  of  ELECTRONICS  AND  INFORMATION  TECHNOLOGY  be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether the Government has taken note that incidents of online financial frauds including withdrawal  of  money  through  social  media,  message  and  other  electronic  means  are increasing in the country on daily basis during the last three years;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof,  State/UT-wise along with the action taken and money retrieved during the said period;
- (c) whether the Government has formulated any plan to check such cyber crime; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof along with the achievements made so far after implementation of such a plan?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a) and (b): The policies of the Government are aimed at ensuring an Open, Safe and Trusted and Accountable Internet for its users. With the expansion of the Internet and more and more Indians coming online, the number of  Indians exposed to online financial  frauds has also  grown. The many  challenges  in  securing  cyberspace  against  online  financial  frauds  also  flow  from  its vastness and borderless nature. As per the National Crime Records Bureau, 6,229, 10,395 and 14,007 cases were registered under the category 'Fraud for cybercrime' during the years 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively.  State/UT-wise details  of  cases  registered  under  the  said  category and action taken in respect of these, during the years 2019 to 2021, as provided by the Bureau, are at Annex. State/UT-wise details of money retrieved are not centrally maintained.

The  Information  Technology  Act,  2000  ('IT  Act')  penalises  various  offences  relating  to  the cyberspace, including tampering with computer source documents (section 65), dishonestly or fraudulently  accessing  a  computer  resource  without  the  permission  of  its  owneror  person  in charge (section 66), identity theft (section 66C), cheating by impersonation (section 66D), etc. These offences are in addition to the penal provisions under the Indian Penal Code for various offences relating to fraud. Such offences are cognizable offences. As per the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, prevention and investigation of cognizable offences is to be done  by  the  police,  and  as  per  the  Seventh  Schedule  to  the  Constitution,  'Police'  is  a  State subject. As such, States are primarily responsible for the prevention, investigation etc. of such offences through the State police departments, which take preventive and penal action as per law.

(c) and (d):  Government has taken a number of measures to check cybercrime. These include the following:

- (i) The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs has been designated as the nodal point in the fight against cybercrime. A toll-free number 1930 has been made operational for citizens to get assistance in lodging online complaints in their own language. To spread awareness on cybercrime, the Ministry of Home Affairs has taken several steps that include dissemination of messages on cybercrime through the Twitter handle @cyberDost and radio campaigns.
- (ii) The  Indian  Computer  Emergency  Response  Team  (CERT-In)  has  formulated  a  Cyber Crisis Management Plan for countering cyber-attacks and cyber terrorism for implementation  by  all  Ministries  and  Departments  of  the  Central  Government,  State Governments and their organisations and critical sectors.
- (iii) CERT-In operates an automated cyber threat exchange platform for proactively collecting, analysing and sharing tailored alerts with organisations across sectors for proactive threat mitigation actions by them.
- (iv) CERT-In  has  empanelled  150  security  auditing  organisations  to  support  and  audit implementation of Information Security Best Practices.
- (v) Cyber  security  mock  drills  are  being  conducted  to  enable  assessment  of  cyber  security posture and preparedness of organisations in the Government and critical sectors. 74 such drills have so far been conducted by CERT-In, in which 990 organisations from different States and sectors participated.
- (vi) CERT-In operates the  Cyber  Swachhta  Kendra  (Botnet  Cleaning  and  Malware  Analysis Centre) to detect malicious programs and free tools to remove the same, and to provide cyber security tips and best practices for citizens and organisations.
- (vii) CERT-In  has  set  up  the  National  Cyber  Coordination  Centre  to  generate  situational awareness regarding existing and potential cyber security threats.
- (viii) CERT-In  also  co-operates,  works  and  coordinates  incident  response  measures  with international  CERTs,  overseas  organisations and  service providers as well as  law enforcement agencies.
- (ix) CERT-In provides leadership for the Computer Security Incident Response Team-Finance Sector  (CSIRT-Fin)  operations  under  its  umbrella  for  responding  to  and  containing  and mitigating cyber security incidents reported from the financial sector.

******

## Annex referred to in the reply to Lok Sabha unstarred question no. 201, to be answered on 7.12.2022

## Details of cases registered under the category 'Fraud for cybercrime' and action taken in respect of these

## (includes credit/debit card frauds, ATM frauds, online banking frauds, OTP-related frauds and other frauds)

|                                     | no.                                 | Cases registered   | Cases registered   | Cases registered   | Cases charge- sheeted   | Cases charge- sheeted   | Cases charge- sheeted   | Cases convicted   | Cases convicted   | Cases convicted   | Persons arrested   | Persons arrested   | Persons arrested   | Persons shee   | Persons shee   |
|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|----------------|----------------|
|                                     | no.                                 | 2021               | 2020               | 2019               | 2021                    | 2020                    | 2019                    | 2021              | 2020              | 2019              | 2021               | 2020               | 2019               | 2021           |                |
| 1 Andhra Pradesh                    | 1 Andhra Pradesh                    | 952                | 764                | 703                | 82                      | 57                      | 36                      | 3                 | 2                 | 0                 | 64                 | 76                 | 68                 | 100            |                |
| 2 Arunachal Pradesh                 | 2 Arunachal Pradesh                 | 2                  | 3                  | 0                  | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                  | 5                  | 0                  | 0              |                |
| 3 Assam                             | 3 Assam                             | 82                 | 58                 | 83                 | 18                      | 17                      | 32                      | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 194                | 18                 | 58                 | 44             |                |
| 4 Bihar                             | 4 Bihar                             | 1373               | 1294               | 1008               | 402                     | 569                     | 276                     | 2                 | 0                 | 4                 | 944                | 634                | 993                | 484            | 6              |
| 5 Chhattisgarh                      | 5 Chhattisgarh                      | 67                 | 71                 | 35                 | 17                      | 15                      | 14                      | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 32                 | 35                 | 25                 | 32             |                |
| 6 Goa                               | 6 Goa                               | 1                  | 1                  | 0                  | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0              |                |
| 7 Gujarat                           | 7 Gujarat                           | 208                | 205                | 107                | 68                      | 25                      | 53                      | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 194                | 57                 | 242                | 196            |                |
| 8 Haryana                           | 8 Haryana                           | 52                 | 36                 | 107                | 26                      | 7                       | 6                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 102                | 18                 | 8                  | 102            |                |
| 9 Himachal Pradesh                  | 9 Himachal Pradesh                  | 6                  | 1                  | 0                  | 1                       | 1                       | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 4                  | 3                  | 0                  | 2              |                |
| 10 Jharkhand                        | 10 Jharkhand                        | 79                 | 83                 | 18                 | 4                       | 1                       | 2                       | 0                 | 1                 | 2                 | 6                  | 2                  | 2                  | 6              |                |
| 11 Karnataka                        | 11 Karnataka                        | 6                  | 0                  | 7                  | 3                       | 0                       | 1                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 3                  | 0                  | 1                  | 3              |                |
| 12 Kerala                           | 12 Kerala                           | 16                 | 6                  | 14                 | 5                       | 1                       | 7                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 7                  | 5                  | 12                 | 5              |                |
| 13 Madhya Pradesh                   | 13 Madhya Pradesh                   | 89                 | 69                 | 25                 | 40                      | 16                      | 6                       | 0                 | 0                 | 1                 | 103                | 47                 | 14                 | 106            |                |
| 14 Maharashtra                      | 14 Maharashtra                      | 1678               | 2032               | 1681               | 214                     | 102                     | 144                     | 9                 | 0                 | 0                 | 453                | 326                | 289                | 327            | 1              |
| 15 Manipur                          | 15 Manipur                          | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0              |                |
| 16 Meghalaya                        | 16 Meghalaya                        | 0                  | 10                 | 0                  | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0              |                |
| 17 Mizoram                          | 17 Mizoram                          | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0              |                |
| 18 Nagaland                         | 18 Nagaland                         | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0              |                |
| 19 Odisha                           | 19 Odisha                           | 1205               | 1079               | 956                | 74                      | 60                      | 58                      | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 64                 | 74                 | 70                 | 93             |                |
| 20 Punjab                           | 20 Punjab                           | 29                 | 16                 | 35                 | 5                       | 1                       | 4                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 15                 | 14                 | 29                 | 11             |                |
| 21 Rajasthan                        | 21 Rajasthan                        | 371                | 332                | 324                | 55                      | 21                      | 14                      | 0                 | 0                 | 1                 | 108                | 29                 | 17                 | 94             |                |
| 22 Sikkim                           | 22 Sikkim                           | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0              |                |
| 23 Tamil Nadu                       | 23 Tamil Nadu                       | 107                | 5                  | 11                 | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 35                 | 2                  | 19                 | 0              |                |
| 24 Telangana                        | 24 Telangana                        | 7003               | 3316               | 282                | 579                     | 469                     | 91                      | 3                 | 202               | 2                 | 743                | 582                | 172                | 994            | 5              |
| 25 Tripura                          | 25 Tripura                          | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0              |                |
| 26 Uttar Pradesh                    | 26 Uttar Pradesh                    | 614                | 837                | 813                | 216                     | 304                     | 367                     | 13                | 16                | 8                 | 322                | 375                | 503                | 285            | 3              |
| 27 Uttarakhand                      | 27 Uttarakhand                      | 0                  | 1                  | 3                  | 0                       | 1                       | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                  | 1                  | 1                  | 0              |                |
| 28 West Bengal                      | 28 West Bengal                      | 40                 | 145                | 0                  | 2                       | 19                      | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 3                  | 8                  | 0                  | 2              | 1              |
| Union territories                   | Union territories                   |                    |                    |                    |                         |                         |                         |                   |                   |                   |                    |                    |                    |                |                |
| 29 Andaman and Nicobar Islands      | 29 Andaman and Nicobar Islands      | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0              |                |
| 30 Chandigarh                       | 30 Chandigarh                       | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0                       | 0                       | 1                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0              |                |
| 31 Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman | 31 Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0              |                |
| 32 Delhi                            | 32 Delhi                            | 19                 | 31                 | 11                 | 4                       | 2                       | 7                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 106                | 21                 | 16                 | 102            |                |
| 33 Jammu and Kashmir                | 33 Jammu and Kashmir                | 8                  | 0                  | 6                  | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 1                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0              |                |
| 34 Ladakh                           | 34 Ladakh                           | 0                  | 0                  | -                  | 0                       | 0                       | -                       | 0                 | 0                 | -                 | 0                  | 0                  | -                  | 0              |                |

| 36 Puducherry   | 0      | 0      | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     |   0 |   0 | 0 0      | 0     | 0     | 0     |     |
|-----------------|--------|--------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-----|-----|----------|-------|-------|-------|-----|
| Total           | 14,007 | 10,395 | 6,229 | 1,815 | 1,688 | 1,119 |  30 | 221 | 18 3,503 | 2,332 | 2,539 | 2,988 | 2,2 |

Source: National Crime Records Bureau