Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
In case of states, the southern state of Telangana had topped the chart as it recorded 10,303 cases of cyber-crimes in 2021. Telangana was followed by Uttar Pradesh which reported 8,829 cyber-crimes in 2021. Image Source: IANS
In 2021, around 74,229 cases from the previous years were pending for investigation. The total number of cases for investigation in the year 2021 was 1,27,330.
Soon, a new cybercrime investigative tool will be able to monitor cyber-attacks directed at people, such as insurance fraud and online matrimonial fraud. TTPs (tactics, techniques, and procedures)-based cybercrime investigative framework is a tool that can assist in tracking and classifying cybercrimes, defining the chain of evidence needed to solve the case, and mapping evidence onto the framework to convict offenders. In many states, cybercrime incidences result in daily losses of one crore. The majority of the time, women, and the elderly, and poor people are the targets, losing all of their life savings. In India, it was discovered that there were much less cybercrime investigations than there were cybercrime reports. Investigations into these cybercrimes are based on the FIR narratives provided by the victims, who typically have very little computer proficiency.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Crime in India Report 2021, the total number of cases reported during the year was 52, 974. This was the highest number of cases of cyber-crime reported in a year till date. In 2021, around 74,229 cases from the previous years were pending for investigation. The total number of cases for investigation in the year 2021 was 1,27,330. Around 21,229 cases out of the total cases were found to be true but couldn’t be processed further due to lack of evidence. Though the total number of cyber-crime cases in 2021 was 52,974, out of these 36,675 cases were registered under the Information Technology (IT) Act. The chargesheeting rate in the cyber-crime cases registered under the IT Act remain poor at only 36.1 percent. The highest chargesheeting rate (75.4 percent) was found in cases related to publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in sexually explicit act in electronic form.
The highest number of cyber-crime cases were reported from the state of Telangana. The southern state reported 10,303 cases of cyber-crimes in 2021 followed by Uttar Pradesh (8,829) and Karnataka (8,136). The total number of people arrested for cyber-crime related offences is 27,374.
For a cybercrime investigation to be successful, a proper framework was needed that could extract critical information from the victim's FIR, provide investigators enough data on the reported cybercrime to categorise it thoroughly and systematically, indicate the next steps based on known crime paths, map evidence to the steps taken to determine the next step, and ultimately draw conclusions and convict criminals. As of now, there is no systematic framework for responding to cybercrime incidents.
I-hub NTIHAC foundation (c3ihub) at IIT Kanpur developed a methodology and tool for apprehending cybercriminals' modes of operation in a crime execution lifecycle with assistance from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), GoI under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems (NM-ICPS).
With the help of the created framework and tool for investigating cybercrime, which is now prepared for deployment with the police, cybercriminals may be quickly tracked down and prosecuted, resulting in a decrease in the prevalence of cybercrime across the nation.
The Rajasthani district of Bharatpur has been the source of the most cybercrimes in the nation during the past three years. According to data received from the home ministry, Jamtara in Jharkhand has been supplanted as India's newest cybercrime hotspot by the Mewat region, which includes Bharatpur and Alwar in Rajasthan, Mathura district in UP, and Nuh in Haryana. The most notorious cities are Bharatpur at the top, Mathura at number two, and Nuh at number three. Alwar and Gurugram in Haryana are ranked six and seven, respectively. The data indicates that this region near the National Capital Region is now the origin of 54.1 percent of all cybercrimes reported in India.
The rising instances of task frauds have once again highlighted the ugly side of technology and one of the most serious crimes in the country. According to various experts, cybercrime is one of the easiest crimes to execute and the fraudster can remain unknown for a long period of time.
Source: National Crime Records Bureau
Cyber fraud, also known as online fraud or internet fraud, is a crime where a victim is cheated out of money online. In order to gain personal information, fraudsters can target a person and contact them via SMS, call, email, or other channels. In order to get access to a computer, mobile device, or network and steal sensitive data like bank account numbers, credit card details, social security numbers, and personal information, they can also transmit malicious links to websites or apps.
Data from the National Crime Records Bureau makes it abundantly evident that cybercrime is increasing rapidly and alarmingly in India. Cybercrime cases increased from 27,248 in 2018 to 44,735 in 2019, almost doubling. The year 2021 saw the highest number of cybercrime cases reported. In 2021, 14,007 cases of cybercrime were registered in which the victim was duped of money by the fraudster. Additionally, 1,624 instances of credit card and debit card fraud were independently documented. Along with 1,899 occurrences of ATM-related fraud and 2,028 cases of One Time Password (OTP) fraud, there were approximately 4,823 cases of internet banking fraud reported in 2021.
Additionally, recent months have seen an increase in the number of incidents of online part-time employment fraud reported in newspapers and news websites. Large number of people are being duped of money after receiving a ‘part-time job offer’ related messages via Whatsapp. According to the Mumbai Police crime report, around 170 cases of part-time job fraud also called as ‘task fraud’ have taken place in Mumbai which is 10.5 percent of 1,619 cyber-crimes that have occurred in the financial capital in the first four months of 2023.
Fraud was the most common motive for committing cybercrime in 2021, with 32,230 fraud cases being reported out of a total of 52,974 cybercrime cases. Fraud was the most common motivation, followed by extortion (2,883) and sexual exploitation (4,555). The accused was freed in 21,229 cybercrime instances because there was insufficient evidence, no way to find them, or there weren't any leads. Even though the statistics demonstrate the severity of the rising rate of cybercrime, it is troubling since they are based solely on reported incidents. Therefore, if we take into account the cases that go unreported, the actual incidents of cybercrime would be significantly higher.
In case of states, the southern state of Telangana had topped the chart as it recorded 10,303 cases of cyber-crimes in 2021. Telangana was followed by Uttar Pradesh which reported 8,829 cyber-crimes in 2021. The eastern states of Assam and Odisha also became the targets of cyber-crimes as Odisha reported 2,037 cases of cyber-crimes and Assam was fifth on the list with 4,846 cyber-crimes.
A woman doctor has been the victim of one of the "biggest" cyber frauds ever detected in the national capital, with the crime totaling Rs 4.5 crore. The fraudsters pretended to be officials from several organisations, according to police authorities quoted by ANI. According to reports, the fraudulent plan was carried out using deceptive Skype calls in which the victim was intimidated into thinking she had committed a serious act that would land her in jail.
Whatsapp and Telegram are rapidly turning into a shelter for scammers as a result of their enormous popularity. The frequent international video calls that clients endure have been highlighted in recent media headlines. There have been several incidents of cyber fraud all over India. The Department of Telecom's Sanchar Saathi website recently reported that 36 lakh Whatsapp accounts in India had been suspended.
Cybercriminals use new tactics as technology advances to prey on people and real money. Some of the common cybercrimes include identity theft, phishing scams, credit card fraud, romance scams, investment fraud, and more. As netizens and responsible citizens, it is our responsibility to understand how to safely browse the internet and to always exercise caution.
Most frequently, people don't report cybercrimes because they don't know who to start with. To file a complaint, individuals should go directly to the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in).
