Assam: 7,621 cases of cyber fraud in 2023

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: Cases of cybercrime, mainly financial fraud, have been increasing of late and Assam, along with the other Northeastern states, have also seen the menace rising in accordance with increased online activity, including making payments and doing banking through the internet.

In view of the rising cases of cybercrime and to strengthen the mechanism to deal with cyber crimes, including financial fraud, in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, the Central Government, through Ministry of Home Affairs set up the ‘Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’ (I4C) to deal with all types of cyber crime in the country.  The ‘National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal’ (https://cybercrime.gov.in), was set up as a part of the I4C, to enable public to report incidents pertaining to all types of cyber crimes. The ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’, under I4C, was also launched for immediate reporting of financial frauds.

Reports of financial fraud in the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting Management System from January 1 to December 31, 2023, shows that 7621 complaints, involving an amount of Rs 3,441.8 lakh was made by people in Assam. As for the rest of the NE states, Tripura came in second place; with 1913 complaints reported involving an amount of Rs 900.35 lakh. Meghalaya is next, with 654 complaints reported in the portal, with an amount of Rs 424.2 lakh reported. Arunachal Pradesh reported 470 complaints, with an amount of Rs 765.79 lakh attempted to be defrauded by cybercriminals.

Moreover, Manipur reported 339 complaints of cybercrime, with an amount of Rs 333.03 involved. Sikkim also reported 292 complaints involving an amount of Rs 197.92 lakh. Complaints from Mizoram numbered 239 and Rs 484.12 lakh was reported to be involved. Nagaland reported 224 complaints, with an amount of Rs 148.94 lakh reported.

The ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’, under I4C, was launched for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters. Since inception of Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System, more than Rs. 1200 Crore have been saved in more than 4.7 lakh complaints.

A toll-free Helpline number ‘1930’ has been operationalized to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints. Till date more than 3.2 lakhs SIM cards and 49,000 IMEIs as reported by Police authorities have been blocked by Government of India.

 Also read: Punjab Police’s Cyber Crime Division bust online job fraud racket, nab four from Assam

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