Cyber Fraud:  Cyber ​​fraud has taken a strong hold in India. Every day someone or the other is falling prey to it. Some are losing lakhs and some crores due to cyber fraud. You will be surprised to know that in the last three years, we Indians have lost so much money due to cyber fraud that it is equivalent to the annual budget of a state. Yes, the government estimates that Indians have lost Rs 25,000 crore due to cyber fraud in the last 3 years. This amount is double the annual budget of the state of Sikkim.
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According to sources, a high-level meeting has been held in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. In this, officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology have shared their concerns with various social media platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp and Google.
In this meeting, it was estimated that cyber fraud has caused a loss of Rs 25,000 crore in the last three years. Last year itself, on an average, 27 FIRs related to cyber fraud were registered in a day. This number is much less than the actual number of complaints of cyber fraud.
How much loss?
The data also revealed that from January 2024 to June 2024, the Central Cyber ​​Fraud Agency received 709 complaints. In these, the victims suffered a loss of more than Rs 1 crore. The total loss was Rs 1,421 crore. A senior official who attended the meeting told News18 that the government is constantly working on a system where the flow of information is fast.
At present, all companies ask for many types of details even in the initial stage. Due to this, the process of preventing cyber fraud gets delayed. Fraudsters are using social media apps as amplifiers, which easily traps victims in their net.
How many cases registered since 2020
Many cases of cyber crime have come to light in recent times, such as cyber attack on AIIMS, ICMR i.e. Indian Council of Medical Research data leak and fraud through loan giving apps. 31 lakh complaints have been registered on the National Cyber ​​Crime Portal between 2020 and February 2024. According to a senior official of the central government, the biggest concern is that the number of arrests in cyber fraud cases is very low.
Low arrests are a matter of concern
According to government data, the total arrests in cyber fraud cases are not even 1 percent of the total cases registered by law enforcement agencies. According to official data, the total cases or FIRs registered by various law enforcement agencies related to cyber fraud are more than 66,000. But the arrests made so far this year are only 500.
According to sources, the Indian government has asked social media platforms to work on its recommendations. Sources said that companies have been asked to detect and take action against fake advertisements on loan apps, Ponzi schemes and stock trading groups. Not only this, the government has also urged them to expedite data requests from Indian law enforcement agencies. At present, it takes a week.