I4C Blocked Over 83,668 WhatsApp Accounts and three,962 Skype IDs Used in Digital Arrest Scams, Government Says

Cyber fraud is on the rise in India and different areas, with over 11 lakh instances reported within the nation in 2024. Digital arrest scams, which contain scammers posing as police or different legislation enforcement businesses, are additionally rising quickly. Fraudsters usually goal susceptible customers, which embrace aged customers. The authorities lately revealed a few of its ongoing efforts to detect and stop situations of digital arrest scams in India, whereas conserving customers knowledgeable about related types of cyber fraud.

Government Blocked Thousands of WhatsApp and Skype IDs to Combat Scams

In a written reply to a query within the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State within the Ministry of Home Affairs Shri Bandi Sanjay Kumar acknowledged that the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) proactively recognized and blocked over 83,668 WhatsApp accounts that had been used for fraudulent actions, which included digital arrest scams. Similarly, the I4C disabled over 3,962 Skype IDs that had been used for these scams.

The minister additionally highlighted different steps taken by the federal government to generate consciousness about digital fraud and scams, together with an unskippable caller tune message performed on outgoing calls in regional languages, newspaper ads, collaborations with social media influencers, and different campaigns.

By the top of final month, over 7.81 lakh SIM playing cards and over 2.08 lakh IMEI numbers had been blocked by the federal government after they had been reported by police authorities, in accordance with Kumar. The authorities additionally labored with telecom service suppliers to arrange a mechanism that may detect and block worldwide calls from scammers utilizing spoofed Indian telephone numbers.

The I4C has saved over Rs. 4,386 crore as a part of efforts to stop funds from being siphoned off by scammers. The Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System was arrange below the I4C in 2021, and has obtained over 13.36 complaints up to now, in accordance with Kumar.