New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs’ cybercrime initiative 14C has managed to block fraudulent bank transactions worth Rs 8,031.56 crore since its inception in September 2024. It has also identified over 24.67 lakh mule bank accounts. The ministry stated the figures in the Lok Sabha.
The I4C or Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre is an attached office under the Home Ministry that deals with all types of cybercrimes in the country. Banks and financial institutions share data with the platform as India sees a surge in scams like phishing, ransomware, and card fraud, to identity theft, cyberbullying, and digital arrest, among others.
Responding to a question by Lok Sabha MP Delkar Kalaben Mohanbhai on strategies to curb cybercrimes, the ministry said the 14C launched a suspect registry of cyber-criminal identifiers on 10 September 2024 in collaboration with banks and financial institutions. So far, banks have shared more than 18.43 lakh suspect identifiers and 24.67 lakh layer-1 mule accounts with the registry, which has helped decline transactions worth Rs. 8031.56 crore.
The ministry also said in Parliament that India has a total of 459 dedicated cybercrime police stations, as of 2024. The number has significantly increased from 169 police stations in 2020. In 2021, India had 202 stations, 262 in 2022, and 323 in 2023. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of cybercrime police stations: 75; Delhi has 15.
India has seven Joint Cyber Coordination Teams (JCCTs) constituted for Mewat, Jamtara, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Vishakhapatnam, and Guwahati under I4C, based upon cybercrime hotspots and areas that have multi-jurisdictional issues.
A few states and Union Territories in India have none. Like Assam, Dadar, and Nagra Haveli, Ladakh, and Lakshwadeep. As per the National Crime Records Bureau report of 2023, the highest number of cybercrime cases was recorded in Bengaluru. But the whole state of Karnataka has only two cybercrime police stations.
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Mapping cyber criminals
In 2024, the Cyber Crime Coordination Centre launched a Geographic Information System (GIS) based software called ‘Pratibimb’. It assists police officers in cracking down on networks of cybercrimes.
Pratibimb maps the locations of cybercriminals and crime infrastructure, enabling law enforcement agencies to track networks in real time. With the help of the module, the police have so far arrested 16,840 accused and sent 1,05,129 requests for cyber-investigation support through this system, according to the ministry.
The ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’ (CFCFRMS), under I4C, was launched in 2021 for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters. So far, over Rs. 7,130 crore has been saved in more than 23.02 lakh complaints.
The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platform, namely ‘CyTrain’ portal, has also been developed under I4C, for capacity building of police officers/judicial officers through online courses on critical aspects of cybercrime investigation, forensics, prosecution, etc. More than 1,44,895 police officers/judicial officers from States/UTs are registered on the portal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)