Friday, 17 May, 2024
According to the INTERPOL, the Telangana police registered one of the first cases in India of human trafficking committed for the purpose of forcing victims to commit cyber fraud. Image Source: IANS
It is common for victims to be lured by fraudulent employment advertisements, coerced into widespread online fraud, and subjected to severe physical violence.
The first INTERPOL operation specifically targeting the phenomenon of human trafficking-fuelled fraud has revealed further evidence that the trend of criminal activity is spreading outside of Southeast Asia. Law enforcement from participating nations conducted more than 270,000 inspections and police checks at 450 hotspots for human trafficking and migrant smuggling between October 16–20, following five months of coordinated investigative efforts.
Numerous hotspots are frequently utilised to direct victims to well-known Southeast Asian cyber scam centres. It is common for victims to be lured by fraudulent employment advertisements, coerced into widespread online fraud, and subjected to severe physical violence. Phishing tactics encompass fraudulent cryptocurrency investments, online gaming, lottery, and work-from-home schemes.
According to the INTERPOL, the Telangana police registered one of the first cases in India of human trafficking committed for the purpose of forcing victims to commit cyber fraud. In the end, an accountant was tricked into travelling to a nation in Southeast Asia, where he was forced to take part in online fraud operations and endured cruel treatment. He was allowed to leave only after paying the ransom.
In June, INTERPOL announced that tens of thousands of people had been trafficked in Southeast Asia and that many more had been deceived in various parts of the world. Observers noted that the syndicates were recruiting people into criminal operations under the guise of offering work to migrants who were stuck in these countries—many of whom were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. "Men make up the majority of those trafficked into online scam operations, but victims who are women and teenagers are also present," it stated.
Other victims of human trafficking were also saved as a result of the Interpol operation. A 13-year-old Bangladeshi child who had been trafficked to India was one of them. In cooperation with the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Interpol National Central Bureaus in both nations, he was saved. Additionally, two female victims from Nepal—one of them was 17 years old—were saved from India and sent home. “They had been trafficked to New Delhi and trapped in prostitution,” the Interpol said.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Crime in India Report 2022, the total number of cases reported during the year was 65,893, showing an increase of 24.4 percent in registration over 2021 (52,974 cases). Crime rate under this category increased from 3.9 in 2021 to 4.8 in 2022. During 2022, 64.8 percent of cyber-crime cases registered were for the motive of fraud (42,710 out of 65,893 cases) followed by Extortion with 5.5 percent (3,648 cases) and Sexual Exploitation with 5.2 percent (3,434 cases). This was the highest number of cases of cyber-crime reported in a year till date. The chargesheeting rate in the cyber-crime cases was just 29.6 percent.
Source: National Crime Records Bureau
The highest number of cyber-crime cases were reported from the state of Telangana. The southern state reported 15,297 cases of cyber-crimes in 2022 followed by Karnataka (12,556) and Uttar Pradesh (10,117). Karnataka had reported 8,136 cases of cyber-crime in 2021 while Uttar Pradesh had reported 8,829 cases.
Cyber fraud, commonly referred to as online fraud or internet fraud, is a crime in which a victim is defrauded of money through the internet. Fraudsters can target a person and get in touch with them via SMS, call, email, or other methods in order to obtain personal information. They can also send a malicious link to websites or apps in order to break into a computer, mobile device, or network and obtain sensitive data like bank account numbers, credit card information, social security numbers, and personal information.
The data from National Crime Records Bureau clearly shows that the cases of cybercrime in India are rising at an alarming rate. The cases of cybercrime nearly doubled from 27,248 in 2018 to 44,735 in 2019. The highest number of cybercrime case were registered in the year 2022.
Talking about the motive behind committing the cybercrime, fraud was the most common motive as out of the total 65,893 cases of cybercrime in 2022, 42,710 cases of fraud were registered. In case of motives, fraud was followed by extortion (3,648 cases) and sexual exploitation (3,434 cases). The total number of cases for investigation in 2022 stood at 69,123. 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.
Seven persons from the nation's capital and nearby Bihar were taken into custody by the Delhi police on Friday, October 20, 2023 after they uncovered a pan-Indian cyber fraud network. Eleven cell phones, over a hundred SIM cards, three computers, four cheque books, and five ATM cards were reportedly found in their possession, according to the police. According to Rohit Meena, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (Shahdara), the arrested individuals have been determined to be directly connected to over 2,100 cybercrime complaints and 67 first information reports (FIRs) filed at various police stations in Delhi and numerous other cities throughout India.
As technology develops, cybercriminals adopt new strategies to prey on individuals and real money. Identity theft, phishing scams, credit card fraud, romance scams, investment fraud, and more are some of the frequent cybercrimes. We as responsible citizens and netizens, must learn to carefully navigate the cyber space and should remain vigilant at all the times. The Government of India has been taking a number of steps to address the cybercrimes.
Most often, people fail to report cybercrimes because they are unsure of who to contact first. To file a complaint, individuals should go directly to the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in). The National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal is a website run by the Indian government that enables victims and complainants to submit online reports of cybercrime complaints, including cyber fraud. This portal accepts complaints on cybercrimes, with a focus on those that target women and children. Victims can also dial 1930 to report and file complaint in cases of cyber frauds.
The Ministry of Home Affairs launched an initiative in the form of Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), to deal with cybercrime in the country in a coordinated and comprehensive manner. The I4C focuses on tackling issues related to cybercrime for citizens, including improving coordination between various Law Enforcement Agencies and stakeholders.
Among I4C's greatest accomplishments, the citizen-centric National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) was introduced in 2019. The National Cybercrime Helpline, number 1930, is another I4C programme that assists the general public in reporting online financial scams. So far, the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) has received over 29 lakh complaints, with an average of over 5000 complaints each day. Both, Helpline 1930 and NCRP, have saved over 765 crore rupees of defrauded money from reaching the hands of fraudsters till 30th September, 2023. The Government of India has been taking a lot of steps to tackle cyber-crime in the country. But in spite of such steps, the cases of cyber-crime continue to rise.
