Cyber Frauds: Dent in Indian Economy
We have heard it, seen it and some of us have experienced it. With the second-largest internet population in the world, India was no exception to a growing digital village. While greater connectivity via the world wide web promised large-scale progress, it also left our digital societies open to new vulnerabilities. “Cyber Frauds and Cyber Crimes” have become a pandemic, and the damage continues affecting individuals, family and the nation at large. Cybercrimes know no borders and have evolved at a pace at par with emerging technologies.
Cybercrimes in India caused losses worth –
· Rs. 1.25 trillion in 2019.
· Rs. 1.24 trillion was lost in the past 12 months
· 63% Indians of the 131 million cybercrime victims were impacted financially.
The patterns of cyber crimes we have heard and seen some common incidences –
1. Credit card frauds
2. Siphoning from bank accounts (net banking)
3. Clicking fraudulent links (fast bucks)
4. Honey traps
5. Sharing personal info on phone
6. Ransomware, Malware etc.
Reluctance to report cyber crime continues till today. Every day every newspaper reports cyber frauds. In cases where cyber fraud has been officially reported, the process after the report is lengthy and time consuming.
The bigger question is how come the fraudsters are able to dupe people and surprisingly majority of these accounts are in the reputed private banks which in their advertisements vouch for security and verified customers only. Most of these accounts are found to be operating from these reputed banks with branches in remote locations where accessibility itself is an issue. Can’t here be a regulation or reformed banking policy to safeguard interests of the people? Is IP of these transactions can’t be located? PAN and Aadhaar linking is now mandatory, can’t these be checked?
In 2022 alone, Gujarat has seen maximum cyber frauds. At various forums numerous suggestions and solutions have been put forth by affected people, IT and Cyber specialists. Financial and IT literacy involving smart phones is one such step but it’s time, we had a robust IT framework and infrastructure network to avoid such thefts.
Summary: Cyber frauds and cybercrimes have become a daily affair. Time to create more awareness and expect a robust IT framework.
