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Business Standard
22-07-2025
- Business Standard
Citizens lost over ₹22,845 crore to cyber criminals in 2024: Govt tells LS
According to the data shared by the minister, 10,29,026 cyber crimes were reported on NCRP in 2022 with a 127.44 per cent increase over the previous year Press Trust of India New Delhi Citizens lost more than ₹22,845.73 crore to cyber criminals in 2024, a staggering increase of nearly 206 per cent from the previous year, Lok Sabha was informed Tuesday. Responding to a written question, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, said that according to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) and Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS) operated by the ministry's I4C, "total amount of losses incurred by citizens due to cyber frauds in the entire country" in 2024 was ₹22,845.73 crore as compared to ₹7,465.18 crore the previous year. Kumar said 3,637,288 incidents of financial frauds committed by cyber criminals were reported on NCRP and CFCFRMS in 2024 as compared to 2,442,978 such incidents the previous year. According to the data shared by the minister, 1,029,026 cyber crimes were reported on NCRP in 2022 with a 127.44 per cent increase over the previous year, 1,596,493 incidents were reported in 2023 showing 55.15 per cent increment, and 2,268,346 cases were reported in 2024, reflecting a 42.08 per cent increase. "The Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS), under I4C, was launched in 2021 for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters," he said. The minister said as per CFCFRMS, financial amount of more than ₹5,489 crore has been saved in more than 1.7 million complaints reported on it so far. "Cyber crime incidents reported on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, their conversion into FI₹and subsequent action, i.e., filing of chargesheets, arrests and resolution of complaints, thereon are handled by the state/UT law enforcement agencies concerned as per the provisions of the law," Kumar said. Giving details of the action taken by the government against cyber criminals, the minister said so far, more than 942,000 SIM cards and 263,348 IMEIs as reported by police authorities have been blocked by the Centre. A Suspect Registry of identifie₹of cyber criminals was launched by I4C on September 10, 2024, in collaboration with banks/financial institutions. So far, more than 1.1 million suspect identifier data received from banks and 2.4 million Layer 1 mule accounts have been shared with the participating entities of Suspect Registry and saved more than ₹4631 crore, he said. The minister said it has launched the 'Pratibimb' module, which maps locations of criminals and crime infrastructure on a map to give visibility to jurisdictional officers. "The module also facilitates seeking and receiving techno-legal assistance by law enforcement agencies from I4C and other SMEs. It has lead to the arrest of 10,599 accused, 26,096 linkages and 63,019 cyber investigation assistance requests," Kumar said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Deccan Herald
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Deccan Herald
On the trail of money mules
Last month, a holistic unit was set up to tackle the growing menace of cybercrimes in Karnataka. Cyber Command, touted as the first of its kind in India and headed by an officer of DGP rank, will coordinate the work of 45 cybercrime police stations for ensuring cyber security of the State's critical infrastructure, preventing and handling cybercrimes and tackling misinformation and disinformation. Within 20 days of this development, the Karnataka High Court directed the setting up of an SIT to probe a case involving a private drone development company whose sensitive defence technology data was allegedly stolen. The North-East CEN Police Station in Bengaluru had, apparently, failed to conduct even a custodial interrogation of the accused despite the rejection of their anticipatory bail pleas. Cyber Command has a long way to go to prove its than 75,000 cybercrimes were reported between 2020-2024, according to the Karnataka Police's annual crime reports. During the first quarter of 2025 alone, about 38,000 cases have been registered through a dedicated helpline. Financial losses incurred by victims in 2024 amounted to almost Rs 2,400 crore but the police were reportedly able to recover only 9% of this amount from the held from Gujarat's Surat in Rs 1.12 crore cyber fraud case.I learnt of one such victim who lost more than Rs 45 lakh while participating in a fake Whatsapp investment group, last year. Thankfully, she has in hand a court order directing SBI and another private sector bank to de-freeze the accounts to give her back about Rs 18.55 lakh. But since June 2024, she has been running from pillar to post to reclaim this amount. The most appalling development was the court's staff telling her that her case file had gone missing. Her application for certified copies of the case papers submitted under the court's own rules was ignored. The clerks even told the judge, who granted her relief, that the file could not be traced..I helped her file an RTI application demanding an inspection of the case file. Miraculously, the file reappeared in the registry within less than two weeks! We do not know whether the threat of penalty imposable under the RTI Act, up to Rs 25,000, worked its I was not as lucky with my RTI intervention. After learning of the lady's sordid saga, I decided to pay attention to the problem of cyber bank fraud. The first step was to explore the questions raised in Parliament. In February this year, the Union Home Ministry informed the Lok Sabha that as many as 9.23 lakh mule accounts have been lien-marked (to prevent the account holders from withdrawing the deposited funds). Details of more than 18.28 lakh mule accounts had been shared with banks and other financial institutions participating in the Suspect Registry. Mule accounts are bank accounts opened by KYC-compliant customers but operated by scamsters to commit fraud. Parliament was also told that social media influencers were employed to spread awareness about cybercrimes through SMS, and social media platforms such as X, Facebook, Instagram, and February this year, I filed an RTI application with the Home Ministry asking for bank-wise data about the lien-marked accounts and the red-flagged mule accounts. I also sought the social media account details of the influencers who had been hired for public education and the remuneration they were paid for this Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) refused access to the bank-wise number of accounts already identified for involvement in fraud, saying it was available only to the participating entities of the Suspect Registry. The CPIO mechanically cited RTI exemption clauses that protect national security and ongoing investigation processes as also the information shared in fiduciary relationships. However, the CPIO supplied a list of eight social media handles and URLs used for the public education campaign saying that none of the influencers had been paid any money. When I appealed the refusal of statistical data, the appellate authority simply upheld the CPIO's order without bothering to respond to my arguments calling for the Ministry is trying to protect by treating even statistical data about cybercrimes like sarkari secrets is anybody's guess. I plan to challenge this refusal before the Central Information Commission. Given the pendency of more than 23,600 appeals and complaints there, my case is not likely to see the light of day until next year. Meanwhile, the doughty lady is yet to see a single paisa of the funds she is entitled to get back.
