More than 83,668 WhatsApp accounts used for Digital Arrest blocked: Home Ministry

Apart from this, over 7.81 lakh SIM cards and 2,08,469 IMEIs have been blocked by the Government after receiving police complaints, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha

New Delhi: The “Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre” (I4C) set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs has identified and blocked more than 83,668 WhatsApp accounts and 3,962 Skype IDs used for Digital Arrest, the Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

Apart from this, over 7.81 lakh SIM cards and 2,08,469 IMEIs have been blocked by the Government after receiving police complaints, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

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A Digital Arrest is a cybercrime where scammers impersonate law enforcement officials to falsely accuse individuals of crimes and extort money or personal information by threatening arrest or imprisonment.

Since 2021, he said that a Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System for reporting financial frauds and stopping siphoning off funds by fraudsters has saved more than Rs 4,386 crore in more than 13.36 lakh complaints.

Claiming that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) does not separately compile or publish specific data regarding digital arrest scams, the MoS said the MHA has set up the I4C as an attached office to deal with all types of cyber crimes in the country, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.

Sharing details of avenues for citizens to report digital arrests and other cyber crimes, he said the “National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal” (https://cybercrime.gov.in) has been launched, as a part of the I4C, to enable the public to report incidents pertaining to all types of cyber crimes.

The MoS said cyber crime incidents reported on this portal, their conversion into FIRs and subsequent action thereon are handled by the State/UT Law Enforcement Agencies. He said the “Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System,” under I4C, was launched in 2021 for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters.

“So far, a financial amount of more than Rs 4,386 crore has been saved in more than 13.36 lakh complaints. A toll-free Helpline number -1930- has been operationalised to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints,” he said.

Highlighting initiatives for citizen awareness, he said the Central Government has a comprehensive awareness programme on digital arrest scams which, inter-alia, includes, newspaper advertisements, announcements in Delhi Metros, the use of social media influencers to create special posts, campaigns through Prasar Bharti and electronic media, special programmes on Aakashvani.