NEW DELHI: India has witnessed a substantial increase in the reported cases of cyber crimes — from 50,035 in 2020 to 65,893 in 2022 — according to the latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Telangana and Karnataka topped the list, recording 15,297 and 12,556 cases respectively in 2022.
Keeping in view the sharp increase in number of such cases, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has constituted seven Joint Cyber Coordination Teams (JCCTs) for cybercrime hotspots such as Mewat, Jamtara, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Visakhapatnam and Guwahati, officials said.
In Telangana, the reported incidents of cybercrimes increased nearly three times from 5,024 in 2020 to 15,297 in 2022. In Karnataka, the cases rose from 10,741 to 12,556. The other two states that reported highest numbers were Uttar Pradesh with 10,117 cases in 2022 (though it relatively fell from 11,097 in 2020) and Maharashtra, which reported 8,249 cases in 2022 against 5,496 in 2020.
Officials said the JCCTs are going to be equipped with cutting-edge technology. These teams are under the ‘Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’ (I4C) covering the whole country and onboarding law enforcement agencies of states and UTs to crack down on cybercrime hotspots with multi-jurisdictional issues.
An MHA official said, “A series of workshops were held in strategic locations such as Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Visakhapatnam, Lucknow, Ranchi and Chandigarh in 2023. Each workshop served as a crucible, forging unity among diverse law enforcement agencies to tackle the ever-evolving landscape of cybercrime.”
The official informed that the ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’ under the I4C, had been launched for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by fraudsters.
“So far, money amounting to more than `1,200 crore has been saved in more than 4.7 lakh complaints. A toll-free helpline number ‘1930’ has been operationalised to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints,” he said. About 3.2 lakh SIM cards and 49,000 IMEIs have been blocked, he added.