Digital arrest: Centre blocks over 3,962 Skype IDs, 83,668 WhatsApp accounts

New Delhi: The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has proactively identified and blocked more than 3,962 Skype IDs and 83,668 WhatsApp accounts used for Digital Arrest scams so far, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

The I4C under the Ministry of Home Affairs, in collaboration with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), launched a caller tune campaign for raising awareness about cybercrime and promoting the Cyber Crime Helpline Number 1930 and ‘National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal’ (NCRP).

The caller tune is also being broadcasts in regional languages, delivered 7-8 times a day by telecom service providers (TSPs).

The government and telecom service providers (TSPs) have also devised a system to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers appear to be originating within India.

Till February 28, more than 7.81 lakhs SIM cards and 2,08,469 IMEIs as reported by police authorities have been blocked by the government, MoS in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Directions have been issued to the TSPs for blocking of such incoming international spoofed calls.

The Central government has also launched a comprehensive awareness programme on digital arrest scams.

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, financial amount of more than Rs. 4,386 crore has been saved in more than 13.36 lakh complaints.

Efforts are also underway to use artificial intelligence (AI) for identifying mule accounts, while over 19 lakh such accounts have been caught and transactions worth Rs 2,038 crore prevented in the fight against cybercrime, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said last month.

A mule account is a bank account used by criminals to transfer stolen money. The person who owns the account is called a “money mule”.

IANS