Lok Sabha Question No. 3814 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-18
Subject: Cases of Digital Arrest Scams
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Arvind Dharmapuri

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3814

TO BE ANSWERED ON  18.12.2024

## CASES OF DIGITAL ARREST SCAMS

## 3814.  SHRI ARVIND DHARMAPURI:

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

- (a)  the total number of cases of digital arrest scams and related cybercrimes registered during the last three years, State/UT-wise;
- (b)  the  details  of  the  resolution  rate  of  such  cases  along  with  the  funds  allocated  for addressing them; and

(c) the steps taken by the Government to create awareness among vulnerable  groups about digital arrest scams and improve cybersecurity measures?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a) to (c):  '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  crime  and  digital  arrest  scams through their Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs). The Central Government supplements the initiatives  of  the  States/UTs  through  advisories  and  financial  assistance  under  various schemes for capacity building of their LEAs.

The National Crime Records Bureau ('NCRB') compiles and publishes the statistical data on crimes in its publication 'Crime in India'. The latest published report is for the year 2022. Specific data regarding digital arrest scams is not maintained separately by NCRB.

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

- i. The  Bharatiya  Nyaya  Sanhita,  2023  ('BNS')  penalizes  the  commission  of  any continuing unlawful activity including economic offence, cybercrimes, by any person or  a  group  of  persons,  either  as  a  member  of  an  organised  crime  syndicate  or  on behalf of such syndicate. The punishment is minimum of 5 years (non-bailable) which may extend to imprisonment for life and fine not less than 5 lakh rupees and fine not less than 10 lakh rupees in case death of any is caused. It may be noted that the BNS which  deals  with  false  charge  of  offence  made  with  intent  to  injure  may  also  be applicable in cases where fraudsters use digital devices to falsely accuse victims of certain offences. The punishment may extend to five years, or with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees (non-bailable offence).Furthermore, several other sections under  the  BNS  may  also  be  attracted  in  case  of  cheating,  cheating  by  personation, forgery,  etc.  Many  criminal  provisions  especially  cybercrimes  under  the  newly enacted BNS have been made non-bailable.
- ii. In addition to the punishment under the BNS, the Information Technology Act, 2000 ('IT  Act')  defines  various  cybercrimes  such  as  tampering  with  computer  source documents, computer related offences, identity theft, cheating by personation by using computer resource, and so on. There are 18 sections which provide various form of cyber  offences,  out  of  which  12  such  offences  are  bailable.  These  provisions  of

punishment for identity theft and cheating by personation by using computer resource may effectively tackle with the menace of digital arrests where fraudsters make use of digital devices to extort money from citizens who may fall in such traps of fraudulent calls where the caller impersonates a LEA or a government officer in India.

- iii. The  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  has  set  up  the  'Indian  Cyber  Crime  Coordination Centre'  (I4C)  as  an  attached  office  to  deal  with  all  types  of  cybercrimes  in  the country, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.
- iv. The  Central  Government  has  launched  a  comprehensive  awareness  programme  on digital arrest scams which, inter-alia, include; newspaper advertisement, announcement in Delhi Metros, use of social media influencers to create special posts, campaign  through  Prasar Bharti and electronic  media,  special  programme  on Aakashvani and participated in Raahgiri Function at Connaught Place, New Delhi on 27.11.2024.
- v. I4C  proactively  identified  and  blocked  more  than  1700  Skype  IDs  and  59,000 WhatsApp accounts used for Digital Arrest.
- vi. The Central Government has published a Press Release on Alert against incidents of 'Blackmail' and 'Digital Arrest' by Cyber Criminals Impersonating State/UT Police, NCB, CBI, RBI and other Law Enforcement Agencies.
- vii. The  Central  Government  and  Telecom  Service  Providers  (TSPs)  have  devised  a system to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile  numbers  appear  to  be  originating  within  India.  Such  international  spoofed calls have been made by cyber-criminals in recent cases of fake digital arrests, FedEx scams, impersonation as government and police officials, etc. Directions have been issued to the TSPs for blocking of such incoming international spoofed calls.
- viii. A  State  of  the  Art  Centre,  Cyber  Fraud  Mitigation  Centre  (CFMC)  has  been established  at  I4C  where  representatives  of  major  banks,  Financial  Intermediaries, Payment Aggregators, Telecom Service Providers, IT Intermediaries and representatives  of  States/UTs  Law  Enforcement  Agency  are  working  together  for immediate action and seamless cooperation to tackle cybercrime.
- ix. Till 15.11.2024, more than 6.69 lakhs SIM cards and 1,32,000 IMEIs as reported by Police authorities have been blocked by Government of India.
- x. Samanvaya  Platform  (Joint Management  Information  System)  has  been  made operational  from  April  2022  to  serve  as  an  Management  Information  System(MIS) platform, data repository and a coordination platform for LEAs for cybercrime data sharing  and  analytics.  It  provides  analytics  based  interstate  linkages  of  crimes  and criminals,  involved  in  cybercrime  complaints  in  various  States/UTs.  The  module 'Pratibimb'  maps  locations  of  criminals  and  crime  infrastructure  on  a  map  to  give visibility to jurisdictional officers. The module also facilitates seeking and receiving of techno-legal assistance by Law Enforcement Agencies from I4C and other SMEs.
- xi. A  Suspect  Registry  of  identifiers  of  cyber  criminals  has  been  launched  by  I4C  on 10.09.2024 in collaboration with Banks/Financial Institutions.
- xii. The  'National  Cyber  Crime  Reporting  Portal'  (https://cybercrime.gov.in)  has  been launched, 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 concerned as per the provisions of the law.
- xiii. The Central  Government has introduced a new  feature titled  as  'Report  and  Check Suspect' on https://cybercrime.gov.in. This facility provides citizens a search option to search I4C's repository of identifiers of cyber criminals through 'Suspect Search'.
- xiv. The 'Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System', under I4C, has been launched in year 2021 for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters. So far, financial amount of more than Rs. 3431 Crore has been saved in more than 9.94 lakh complaints. A toll-free Helpline number '1930' has been operationalized to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints.
- xv. Seven  Joint  Cyber  Coordination  Teams  (JCCTs)  have  been  constituted  for  Mewat, Jamtara, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Vishakhapatnam, and Guwahati under I4C covering the whole country based upon cyber crime hotspots/ areas having multi

jurisdictional issues by on boarding States/UTs to enhance the coordination framework among  the Law  Enforcement Agencies of the States/UTs. Seven workshops were organized for JCCTs  at Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Vishakhapatnam, Lucknow, Ranchi and Chandigarh.

- xvi. 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.  X  (formerly  Twitter)  (@CyberDost),  Facebook  (CyberDostI4C),  Instagram (cyberDostI4C),  Telegram(cyberdosti4c),  Radio  campaign,  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, digital displays on railway stations and airports across, etc.

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