Cyber Frauds: Over 70 Lakh Mobile Connections, 7 Lakh WhatsApp Accounts Disabled Till Date

The government has informed the Parliament that at least 73 Lakh mobile connections were disconnected till date as part of the Centre’s crackdown on cyber frauds.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar said that these connections were obtained on fake or forged documents. 

Besides, around 7 Lakh WhatsApp accounts, linked to mobile connections either obtained on fake or forged documents or implicated in cybercrime, were also disabled, Kumar added.

Till date, over 5.8 Lakh SIM cards, 2.6 Lakh mobile handsets and 1.08 Lakh international mobile equipment identity (IMEIs) reported by police authorities have been blocked by the government.

Moreover, the MoS said that a total of 70.8K points of sales (PoS) were blacklisted to curb cybercrime and financial frauds. Of these, 365 FIRs were registered against the blacklisted PoSs.

However, on a positive note the government has also traced 11 lakh stolen or lost phones (handsets) to date.

This follows a response by the MoS last month, highlighting that the Centre’s ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’ has helped save more than INR 2,400 Cr from being siphoned off by fraudsters. This amount was saved in response to over 7.6 Lakh complaints filed on the portal.

This comes amid a surge in cybercrime cases across India. An RBI report recently highlighted that the number of online frauds in the country surged 334% year-on-year (YoY) to 29,082 in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). In FY23, the number of online frauds in the country stood at 6,699.

As a result of this significant rise in cybercrimes, the central government has taken various measures to curb cybercrimes and financial frauds.

For instance, in May, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) ordered telecom service providers to block 28,200 mobile handsets for their alleged use in nationwide cybercriminal activities. Alongside this, the DoT also (DoT) launched its ‘Digital Intelligence Platform’ (DIP) and ‘Chakshu’ facility to combat cybercrime and financial fraud.

In the same month, the government held discussions with fintechs and law enforcement agencies on ways to foster strong collaboration and mitigate critical challenges like cybersecurity and digital financial fraud. 

In April, the cybercrime unit of the MHA introduced the ‘Pratibimb’ app to help enforcement agencies and police track cybercriminals in real time and dismantle their networks.