Lok Sabha Question No. 1283 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-03
Subject: Cyber Fraud and Digital Harassment
Ministry: HOME AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shri Vijayakumar Alias Vijay Vasanth, Shri Manickam Tagore B

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1283

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 3 RD  DECEMBER, 2024/ AGRAHAYANA 12, 1946 (SAKA)

CYBER FRAUD AND DIGITAL HARASSMENT

1283.     SHRI VIJAYAKUMAR ALIAS VIJAY VASANTH: SHRI MANICKAM TAGORE B:

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) the measures taken by the Government to prevent such instances of cyber  fraud  and  digital  harassment  along  with  the  support  services provided  by  the  Government  to  the  victims  of  cyber  fraud  and  digital harassment;

(b)  whether  the  law  enforcement  agencies  are  equipped  to  handle  such cases;

(c) if so, the status of existing laws and regulations regarding cyber fraud;

(d)  the  data  on  the  number  of  reported  cases  of  cyber  fraud  during  the past year;

(e)  the  measures  taken  by  the  Government  to  educate  the  citizens  on identifying and avoiding such scams;

(f)  whether  the  Government  is  considering  for  establishing  a  dedicated agency to tackle cybercrime and if so, the details thereof; and

(g)  the  timeline  for  implementing  effective  solutions  to  prevent  such digital arrest ordeals?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI BANDI SANJAY KUMAR)

(a) to (g) : '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 through their Law Enforcement  Agencies.  Cyber  Crimes  cases  are  handled  under  the provisions of  the  Information  Technology  Act,  2000, the  Bhartiya  Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act). 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.  The  NCRB  maintained information regarding certain categories of fraud for cyber crime such as credit/debit  cards,  ATMs,  online  banking  frauds,  OTP  frauds  and  others. As per the data published by the NCRB, details of cases registered under fraud for cyber crimes (involving communication devices as medium/target) for the period of 2022 is as under:

| Cases Registered             |   Credit/Debit cards |   ATMs |   Online Banking frauds |   OTP frauds |   Others |   Total |
|------------------------------|----------------------|--------|-------------------------|--------------|----------|---------|
| under Fraud for Cyber Crimes |                 1665 |   1690 |                    6491 |         2910 |     4714 |   17470 |

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. 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  cybercrime  in  the  country,  in  a  coordinated  and  comprehensive manner.
- ii. 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.
- iii. 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.

- iv. 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.
- v. The state of the art 'National Cyber Forensic Laboratory (Investigation)'  has  been established, as a  part of  the I4C, at  New Delhi to provide early stage cyber forensic assistance to Investigating Officers (IOs) of State/UT Police. So far, National Cyber Forensics  Laboratory  (Investigation)  has  provided  its  services  to State/UT LEAs in around 11,203 cases pertaining to cyber crimes.
- vi. The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platform, namely 'CyTrain' portal has been developed under I4C, for capacity building of  police  officers/judicial  officers  through  online  course  on  critical aspects  of  cyber  crime  investigation,  forensics,  prosecution  etc. More than 98,698 Police Officers from States/UTs are registered and
4. more than 75,591 Certificates issued through the portal.
- vii. National  Cyber  Forensic  Laboratory  (Evidence)  has  been  set  up  at Hyderabad.  Establishment of this laboratory provides the necessary

forensic  support  in  cases  of  evidence  related  to  cyber  crime, preserving the evidence and its analysis in line with the provisions of IT Act and Evidence Act; and reduced turnaround time.

- viii. The  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  has  provided  financial  assistance  to the  tune  of  Rs.  131.60  crores  under  the  'Cyber  Crime  Prevention against  Women  and  Children  (CCPWC)'  Scheme,  to  the  States/UTs for their capacity building such as setting up of cyber forensic-cumtraining laboratories, hiring of junior cyber consultants and training of  LEAs'  personnel,  public  prosecutors  and  judicial  officers.  Cyber forensic-cum-training  laboratories  have  been  commissioned  in  33 States/UTs  and  more  than  24,600  LEA  personnel,  judicial  officers and prosecutors have been provided training on cyber crime awareness, investigation, forensics etc.
- ix. I4C has imparted cyber hygiene training to 7,330 officials of various Ministries/ Departments of Government of India.
- x. I4C  has  imparted  cyber  hygiene  training  to  more  than  40,151  and 53,022 NCC cadets and NSS cadets respectively.
- xi. 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.
- xii. 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.

- xiii. 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,  newspaper  advertisement  on digital arrest scam, announcement in Delhi metros on digital arrest and  other  modus  operandi  of  cyber  criminals,  use  of  social  media influencers to create special posts on digital arrest, digital displays on railway stations and airports across, etc.

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