Lok Sabha Question No. 1167 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-03
Subject: Increasing Cases of Cyber Crimes
Ministry: HOME AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shri Kuldeep Indora, Adv. Adoor Prakash, Shri Jai Prakash

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1167

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

INCREASING CASES OF CYBER CRIMES

1167.      ADV. ADOOR PRAKASH: SHRI JAI PRAKASH: SHRI KULDEEP INDORA:

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is aware of increasing cases of cyber crimes in  the  form  of  'digital  arrest'  where  cyber  criminals  are  posing  as investigating officers;

- (b) if so, the number of such crimes reported and culprits arrested, Statewise;

(c) whether the Government in consultation with the RBI is contemplating using  a  foolproof  security  to  check  this  particular  type  of  financial fraudulent activity and if so, the details thereof; and

(d)  the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  for  close  coordination between  various  Government  and  private  entities  to  educate  citizens, enhance surveillance and strengthen the system to fight cyber crimes?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (d): '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 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 cyber crimes in the form of digital arrest is not maintained separately by NCRB.

To  strengthen  the  mechanism  to  deal  with  cyber  crimes  including digital  arrest  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 cyber crimes in the country, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.
- ii. The Central Government has launched a comprehensive awareness programme  on  digital  arrest  which,  inter-alia,  include;  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, campaign  about  digital  arrest  through  Prasar  Bharti  and  electronic media, special programme  on  Aakashvani on digital arrest and participated  in  Raahgiri  Function  at  Connaught  Place,  New  Delhi  on 27.11.2024 to educate the citizen on digital arrest scams,etc.

- iii. I4C proactively identify and blocked more than 1700 Skype IDs and 59,000 Whatsapp accounts used for Digital Arrest.
- iv. 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.
- v. 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.

- vi. 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.
- vii. 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.
- viii. Samanvaya  Platform  has  been  made  operational  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.

- ix. A  Suspect  Registry  of  identifiers  of  cyber  criminals  has  been launched by I4C on 10.09.2024 in collaboration with Banks/Financial Institutions.
- x. 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'.
- xi. 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.
- 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  '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.
- xiv. I4C has imparted cyber hygiene training to 7,330 officials of various Ministries/ Departments of Government of India.
- xv. I4C  has  imparted  cyber  hygiene  training  to  more  than  40,151  and 53,022 NCC cadets and NSS cadets respectively.
- 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.  RBI  also  conducts  awareness programmes to create mass awareness among the public about safe digital banking.

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