‘Cyber crimes increasing despite enhanced use of cyber space’

With enhanced use of cyberspace, the number of cyber crimes, including fraud, is also increasing, Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The MoS shared the input in a written reply to a query from Lower House members Nishikant Dubey, Jual Oram, and Aparupa Poddar.

As per the data maintained, the minister said more than 16 lakh cyber crime incidents have been reported and more than 32,000 FIRs have been registered from 1 January 2020, to 7 December 2022.

Citing National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data of state and union territory-wise cases registered under cyber crimes (involving communication devices as medium and target) during the period from 2017 to 2021, the Minister said a total of 21,796 cases were registered in 2017, followed by 27,248 in 2018; 44,735 in 2019; 50,035 in 2020; and 52,974 in 2021.

Mishra also said that ‘police’ and “public order” are state subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. 

“The states and Union Territories (UTs) are primarily responsible for the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of crimes, including cyber crime through their Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs). The LEAs take legal action as per the provisions of law against persons involved in cyber crime.”

He said the central government supplements the initiatives of the states and the UTs through advisories and financial assistance under various schemes for their capacity building.

To strengthen the mechanism to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, Mishra said, the central government has taken steps for spreading awareness about cyber crimes, issuing alerts and advisories, building capacity, and training law enforcement personnel, prosecutors, and judicial officers for improving cyber forensic facilities.

The government has established the ‘Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’ (I4C) to provide a framework and eco-system for LEAs to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, the Minister said.

The ‘National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal’ (www.cybercrime.gov.in) allows easy reporting of all types of cyber crimes. 

Cyber crime incidents reported on this portal are routed automatically to the respective state and UT law enforcement agencies for further handling as per the provisions of the law.

The “Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System” was launched to allow for the immediate reporting of financial frauds and to prevent fraudsters from stealing funds.

A toll-free helpline number, ‘1930’ has been operationalized to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints, said the MoS, adding that the “National Information Security Policy and Guidelines (NISPG) 2019” has been issued in order to prevent information security breaches “Cyber intrusions in ICT infrastructure”.

“The states and UTs have also been requested to carry out publicity to create mass awareness,” said the Minister.