• India is expected to lose over Rs 1.2 lakh crore due to cyber frauds in the coming year, according to a projection by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). 

• A major factor in these frauds is the use of mule accounts, which help facilitate illegal transactions and launder money. These accounts contribute to potentially siphoning off 0.7 per cent of India’s GDP.

Key highlights of the report:

• Many of these scams originate in China or Chinese-linked entities, while others are run domestically, with the money often moved through multiple accounts before being withdrawn from ATMs. 

• Additionally, international scam compounds have been identified in Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos, where fraudsters target Indian citizens through investment scams.

• India’s I4C identifies around 4,000 mule bank accounts each day and has pinpointed 18 ATM hotspots where money is fraudulently withdrawn. 

• Cash withdrawals using Indian debit cards have also been reported from overseas locations like Dubai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Russia.

Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C)

• Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) is an initiative of the Ministry of Home Affairs to provide a national platform for tackling cybercrime in a coordinated and comprehensive manner. 

• I4C is working towards its vision to create an effective framework and ecosystem for prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of cybercrime.

• I4C aims to strengthen the capabilities of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and improve coordination among various stakeholders and LEAs. 

• It is continuously working for the enhancement of the nation’s technical capabilities to deal with cybercrime and to further strengthen the operational architecture and coordination among LEAs and other stakeholders.

• The focus of I4C has been on tackling all the issues related with cybercrime for all citizens, such as improving coordination among various central and state agencies, driving change in India’s overall capability to tackle cybercrime and facilitating capacity development of LEAs to better respond to cybercrime.

• I4C also focusses on strengthening the fight against cybercrime, committed against women and children. 

• Ease of filing cybercrime related complaints has been improved with the various initiatives of NCRP. 

• I4C has assisted states/UTs in capacity building of police officers and judicial officers in the areas of cyber forensics, cyber hygiene, cyber-criminology, etc.

Components of I4C: 

• National Cybercrime Threat Analytics Unit for reporting threats pertaining to cybercrimes at regular intervals.

• National Cybercrime Reporting Portal to report various cybercrime complaints by citizens at all India level on a common platform on 24x7 basis from “anywhere, anytime”.

• National Cybercrime Training Centre to impart training to government officials, specially state law enforcement agencies.

• National Cybercrime Research & Innovation Centre to carry out research for development of indigenous tools for prevention of cybercrimes.

• Platform for Joint Cyber Crime Coordination Teams for coordination, sharing of modus operandi of cybercrimes, data/information among states/UTs LEAs.

• National Cybercrime Ecosystem Management Unit for creating mass awareness in cyber hygiene for prevention of cybercrimes.

• National Cybercrime Forensic Laboratory (Investigation) Ecosystem for helping LEAs in cyber forensics investigation.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)