New Delhi: The country witnessed as many as 2,05,287 cases registered under cybercrime between 2021-2023 with 52,974 in 2021, 65,893 in 2022 and 86,420 in 2023, the government said in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
This came as a written response from Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar while replying to a question from MP Parimal Nathwani who enquired on the increase in cases of cyber fraud and cybercrime across the country.
Interestingly, the data revealed that the most tech-savvy states of Telangana and Karnataka were the worst hit by cyber criminals.
According to the data given by the MoS citing the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Telangana tops the chart with 43,836 cases recorded between 20-21-2023 followed by 42,581 in Karnataka, 29,740 in Uttar Pradesh, 21,914 in Maharashtra, 6,368 in Odisha and others.
The lowest number of cases were reported in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep between 2021-2023 with just three such cases, followed by 9 in Ladakh, 14 in Nagaland, 16 in D&N Haveli and Daman & Diu, 83 in A&N Islands among others.
To tackle this menace, “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,” the MoS noted in his response.
He further added that, “A state-of-the-art, 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.”
Key initiatives include the establishment of the I4C and the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, which enables citizens to lodge complaints online.
The 1930 helpline and the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS) have collectively helped prevent financial losses of over Rs 7,130 crore.
The government has also operationalised national cyber forensic laboratories, launched a suspect registry of cybercriminal identifiers, blocked over 11.14 lakh SIMs and 2.96 lakh IMEIs, and rolled out extensive awareness campaigns on digital arrest scams, malware, and online financial traps.
(IANS)
