More Than INR 2,400 Cr Saved From Being Syphoned Off By Online Fraudsters: MoS Home

Minister of state (MoS) for home affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar said that the Centre’s ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’ has helped “save” more than INR 2,400 Cr worth of funds from being syphoned off by fraudsters.

In a written answer in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday (July 24), the MoS said that the amount was saved in response to more than 7.6 Lakh complaints filed on the portal.

“The ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’, under I4C, has been launched for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop syphoning off funds by the fraudsters. So far, (a) financial amount of more than INR 2,400 Cr has been saved in more than 7.6 Lakh complaints,” said MoS Kumar.

Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, or I4C, under the ambit of the home ministry, is envisaged to act as the nodal point to curb cybercrime in the country.

For the uninitiated, victims can lodge a complaint on the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System in cases involving fraudulent transactions. Thereafter, a police officer is tasked with sending a request to the concerned bank or intermediary to block the said funds. The portal is envisaged with helping financial cyber fraud victims retrieve money and identifying the cyber criminal.

MoS Kumar also said that the government has blocked more than 5.8 Lakh SIM cards and 1.08 Lakh devices reported by police authorities as part of a wide crackdown on financial frauds. 

He added that the National Cyber Forensics Laboratory has provided services such as mobile forensics, memory forensics, CDR (call detail record) analysis to multiple state law enforcement agencies in nearly 10,200 cyber crime cases. 

In response to a separate question, the MoS said that a “report suspect” feature has been added on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal to report cybercrime attempts made using suspicious websites. He said that 5,252 suspect URLs have been reported so far. 

Besides this, he also said that I4C has shut down 379 illegal loan and scam applications and 91 phishing/fake websites between October 2023 and May 2024.

In the same span, I4C collaborated with the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) to deactivate 310 malicious or phishing “dot.in” domains. 

“I4C has collaborated with National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) to prevent abuse of ‘dot in’ Domains. Between October 2023 and May 2024, 310 ‘malicious/phishing’ domains have been made non functional with the help of NIXI… Further, 91 phishing/ fake websites and 379 illegal loan/ scam apps hosting websites have been made non functional by I4C with the help of stakeholders concerned,” the MoS added.