New Delhi: The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) identified and blocked more than 1,700 Skype IDs and 59,000 WhatsApp accounts used for Digital Arrest, the Parliament was informed on Tuesday.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai told Lok Sabha that till November 15, more than 6.69 lakh SIM cards and 1,32,000 IMEIs as reported by police authorities have also been blocked by the Central government.
Replying to a question on cyber frauds and crimes from K. Eswarasamy of DMK, MoS Rai said, “The Ministry has set up the I4C as an attached office to deal with all types of cyber crimes in the country, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.”
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is also operating an automated cyber threat exchange platform for collecting, analysing and sharing tailored alerts with organisations across sectors for proactive threat mitigation actions by them, he said.
To spread awareness of cybercrime, the Central Government has taken steps like dissemination of messages through SMS, I4C social media account on X (formerly Twitter) (@CyberDost), Facebook(CyberDostI4C), Instagram (cyberDostI4C), Telegram (cyberdosti4c), Radio campaign, engaged MyGov for publicity in multiple mediums, organising Cyber Safety and Security Awareness weeks in association with States/UTs, publishing of handbook for adolescents/students, digital displays on railway stations and airports, he said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has provided financial assistance of Rs 131.60 crore under the ‘Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC)’ Scheme, to States/UTs for their capacity building such as setting up of cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories, hiring of junior cyber consultants and training of law enforcing agencies personnel, public prosecutors and judicial officers, he said.
The MoS said 891 Judicial Officers, 395 Public Prosecutors, 12 Forensics Experts and 2,180 law enforcers have been trained by I4C in matters of cybercrime prevention, awareness and investigation forensics.
The I4C has also imparted cyber hygiene training to 7,330 officials of various ministries/departments of the Central government.
(IANS)
J&K: 327 cybercrime cases, 178 arrests
From 2021 to 2022, a total of 327 cybercrime cases were registered in Jammu and Kashmir while 178 people were arrested, 142 were chargesheeted, and one conviction was reported under cybercrime laws.
According to data, in 2020, 120 cases were registered while the charge sheet was produced in 14 cases. It added that 33 people were arrested in 2020 while 23 were chargesheeted.
However, 2021 saw a rise in incidents with 154 cases registered and 49 chargesheeted. The number of arrests increased to 102, and 60 people were chargesheeted in the particular year.
In 2022, the region recorded 173 cases, the highest in the three years, with 53 chargesheeted and one convicted. A total of 76 people were arrested, 79 chargesheeted, and one convicted under cybercrime laws in the year.
The government has implemented several measures to combat cybercrime and financial fraud under the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C).
“Launched in 2021, the ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’ has facilitated the recovery of over Rs 3431 crore in more than 9.94 lakh complaints, supported by a toll-free helpline number, 1930, for lodging online cyber complaints,” it said, adding that proactive efforts by I4C have led to the identification and blocking of over 1700 Skype IDs and 59,000 WhatsApp accounts linked to digital fraud.
Also, more than 6.69 lakh SIM cards and 1,32,000 IMEIs have been blocked based on police reports until November 15, 2024.
The Central Government has also issued alerts about blackmail and digital arrest scams conducted by cybercriminals impersonating officials from agencies like NCB, CBI, and RBI. To address the misuse of international spoofed calls masquerading as Indian numbers, a system has been devised in collaboration with telecom service providers (TSPs) to detect and block such calls, which are commonly used in scams like fake digital arrests and impersonations. (KNO)
