Cyber Crime

NIA files charge sheet against trafficking gang sending Indians to Laos

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a charge sheet against members of a human trafficking gang that was sending Indians to Laos to work in cyber crime sweatshops run by Chinese scammers targeting European and American citizens, officials said on Thursday. The agency filed its charge sheet before a special court on Wednesday against gang members Manjoor Alam alias Guddu, Sahil, Ashish alias Akhil, Pawan Yadav alias Afzal alias Afroz, along with the key conspirator, Kamran Haider alias Zaidi. "NIA investigations have revealed that all five were involved in trafficking vulnerable Indian youth to the Golden Triangle Region in Lao PDR where they were forced to commit cyber scams targeting European and American citizens. They operated through the consultancy firm, Ali International Services, which functioned as a front for human trafficking," an NIA spokesperson said in a statement. According to the agency's investigation, Zaidi facilitated the entire operation and extorted

Centre to train 5,000 Cyber Commandos over next 5 years: Amit Shah

Under the 'Cyber Commandos' program, the Centre will establish a specialised unit of trained 'Cyber Commandos' across States and Union territories

Philippine authorities detain over 160 people over cybercrime operation

Philippine authorities raided a suspected illegal online gaming and cyberscam complex in a central province and took into custody more than 160 people mostly Chinese and Indonesians who were committing internet-based crimes, officials said Sunday. The raid on Saturday by more than 100 government agents, backed by military intelligence, on a resort compound in Lapu-Lapu city was part of an ongoing crackdown after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered a ban in July on widespread and mostly Chinese-run online gaming operations that cater mostly to clients in China, where illegal gambling is banned. Marcos said then that the massive illegal gambling operations have ignored Philippine laws with largescale violations of regulations and also committed other crimes, including financial scams, human trafficking, torture, kidnappings and murder. The raid at the Tourist Garden Resort, which has 10 buildings with swimming pools, karaoke bars and restaurants, came after the Indonesian Embas

'Can you send Rs 500?': Man poses as CJI DY Chandrachud; SC files complaint

The Supreme Court filed a cybercrime complaint against a scammer who posed as CJI DY Chandrachud and asked money for a cab fare

As UN targets cybercrime, privacy groups say human rights to be violated

A global deal on the criminal use of computer technology is moving ahead despite worries it will let governments around the world violate human rights by probing electronic communications and bypassing privacy safeguards. Nearly 200 nations approved the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime on Thursday afternoon at a special committee meeting that capped months of complicated negotiations. The treaty expected to win General Assembly approval within months creates a framework for nations to cooperate against internet-related crimes including the illegal access and interception of computer information; electronic eavesdropping and online child sex abuse. Like outer space or even some parts of the deep sea, cyberspace is a relatively new area for regular human activity and many governments and businesses are rushing to keep up. The convention expected at the General Assembly later this year began with a Russian initiative several years ago and critics said they can see those .

K'taka govt launches cybersecurity policy, outflow of Rs 103 cr for 5 years

The report stated that Rs 23.74 crore of the total budget would go towards providing incentives and concessions

India ranks third globally for phishing attacks after US, UK: Report

India ranked as the third-largest country globally for phishing attacks after the US and UK, with its technology sector facing nearly 33 per cent of all such strikes, marking it as the most targeted industry, according to a report. The report by cybersecurity firm Zscaler showed a 60 per cent rise in global phishing attacks over the past year. The ThreatLabz 2024 Phishing Report gathered insights from 2 billion blocked phishing transactions between January and December 2023. "In 2023, India ranked as the third-largest country globally for phishing attacks, following behind the US and UK. The technology industry in India faced nearly 33 per cent of all phishing attacks, marking it as the most targeted sector among industries," the report said. The finance and insurance sector has become the prime target for cyber attackers and witnessed the highest number of phishing attempts in 2023, it added. "The finance and insurance sector experienced both the highest number of phishing attemp

Gurugram cops nab 4 cyber criminals for defrauding people of over Rs 4.5 cr

The Gurugram cyber police have arrested four fraudsters for allegedly duping hundreds of people across the country of over Rs 4.5 crore, officials said. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber) Siddhant Jain said four mobile phones and Rs 32000 in cash were recovered from the accused. He added that after examining these SIM cards and reviewing the data from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C), it was found that the fraud of about Rs 4.5 crore has been committed by these accused across the country. The accused have been identified as Nitish, resident of Chomu in Rajasthan; Monu from Bhonkarka village; Ravikant from Samastipur, Bihar; and Vikas Kumar from Vaishali district, Bihar, police said. "During the police interrogation, it was revealed that these accused committed fraud by making phone calls to people and cheating them in the name of transferring money online, investing in share market, offering online loans and getting money transferred by pretending to be experts,"

Singapore attracts cyber espionage as host of high-profile global events

Cyberespionage is taking place all over the world and Singapore -- being one of the hubs for hosting high-profile trade exhibitions and conferences -- "inevitably" attracts intelligence operations, a report said on Friday. "Cyberespionage is happening all over the world because we are more connected than ever before," said Dr Alan Chong, senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Chong's comments came after Russian media earlier this month leaked a recording of a German military phone call that Berlin said was due to a participant dialling in through an "unauthorised connection" from a Singapore hotel during the February Singapore Airshow. "In terms of the geopolitical location of Singapore, to me it's no surprise. Since the Cold War, long before the digital age, we were already a base of operations for both the Communist and the Western powers," Channel News Asia quoted Chong as saying. Intelligence operations around the world will happen more frequently as

Home Ministry authorises I4C to issue takedown notices under IT Act

Experts believe that this step would streamline the process of tackling cybercrimes at the national level but could create confusion between agencies over authority

Cyber crime cases in Delhi nearly doubled in 2022 from 2021: NCRB report

Cases of cyber crime in the national capital nearly doubled in 2022, according to the latest report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The number of such cases rose from 345 in 2021 to to 685 cases in 2022, NCRB's comprehensive crime data for 2022 showed. In 2020, the count was much lower with only 166 cyber crime cases, it added. A senior official of Delhi Police said, "We are continuously working to promote cyber awareness and several campaigns are being carried out from time to time.

New cyber crime trend unravelled in UP, woman held under 'digital arrest'

The Uttar Pradesh Police has launched an investigation after a Noida resident found herself at the receiving end of a new cyber fraud trend, wherein she was duped of more than Rs 11 lakh and held under "digital arrest" for a day, officials said on Saturday. This is the first case in the new trend of "digital arrest fraud" lodged at the Cyber Crime police station in Noida. The thugs posed as police officials who mentioned the names of an IPS officer in the CBI and the founder of a grounded airline, associating the 50-year-old victim in a fictitious money-laundering case. A similar case was recently reported in Haryana's Faridabad where cyber thugs, posing as police personnel, got a woman "digitally arrested" for more than a week after convincing her that her personal IDs were used for illegal activities. The thugs then asked her to stay online via Skype and not share this information with anyone even as they kept a watch on her throughout the period. In her complaint, the Noida-based

80% cybercrimes from 10 districts, Bharatpur new Jamtara: Research

Rajasthan's Bharatpur and Uttar Pradesh's Mathura have replaced Jharkhand's Jamtara and Haryana's Nuh as the infamous hotspots of cybercrime in India, according to a new study by an IIT Kanpur-incubated start-up. The study also revealed that just the top 10 districts collectively contribute to 80 per cent of cybercrimes in the country. The findings have been mentioned by the Future Crime Research Foundation (FCRF), a non-profit start-up incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur, in its latest comprehensive white paper named 'A Deep Dive into Cybercrime Trends Impacting India'. Bharatpur (18 per cent), Mathura (12 per cent), Nuh (11 per cent), Deoghar (10 per cent), Jamtara (9.6 per cent), Gurugram (8.1 per cent), Alwar (5.1 per cent), Bokaro (2.4 per cent), Karma Tand (2.4 per cent) and Giridih (2.3 per cent) are the top contributors to cybercrime cases in India, collectively accounting for 80 per cent of reported incidence, the FCRF claimed. "Our analysis focuse

Parliamentary committee to hear RBI, IT ministry on cyber related crimes

A parliamentary committee examining the issue of cyber security and rising incidents of cyber crimes has summoned officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Electronics and Information Technology Ministry later this month to seek their views. The panel has already quizzed representatives of several tech majors on the issue. The parliamentary committee on Finance headed by BJP's Jayant Sinha has called RBI and MeitY officials on July 20, the first day of the Monsoon session. On the same day, it also called representatives of Google India separately on the same issue. In its last meeting, the panel had summoned representatives of Punjab National Bank and tech majors Google, Apple and Paytm to hear them on cyber security and rising cases of cyber and white-collar crimes. The issue was at the centre of deliberations at a meeting of the panel held last month too as experts from the industry were quizzed by lawmakers about various facets of unlawful activities, including fraud

Par panel calls banks, Google, Apple, Paytm to discuss rising cyber crime

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has called representatives of several banks such as the Punjab National Bank as well as global and national tech majors, including Google, Apple and Paytm, next week to discuss issues related to cyber security and rising cases of cyber crimes. The committee, headed by BJP's Jayant Sinha, has called the representatives of the Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of India, Yes Bank and Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) on July 4 to take oral evidence on "cyber security and rising incidence of cyber/white collar crimes". On the same day, it has separately called representatives of tech majors One97 Communications (Paytm), Flipkart, Google and Apple on the same issue. Cyber crimes have become an increasing threat with savvy online operators resorting to various tricks to defraud people of their money. The issue of cyber security and rising incidence of cyber crimes was at the centre of deliberations at a meeting of the panel h

53-year-old Mumbai man sells flat for Rs 1.3 cr, loses all to cyber fraud

The police found money was transferred to eight bank accounts in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh

Haryana sees 5,000% jump in cyber crime complaints since 2019

Haryana saw a jaw dropping rise of almost 5,000 per cent in cyber crime incidents since 2019, registering 66,784 such complaints in 2022, officials said on Thursday. The state in 2019 had logged 1,362 cyber crime complaints, which rocketed by 4,803.40 per cent by the end of 2022, according to the data. In the first three months of 2023 alone 25,659 complaints of cyber crime have been recorded, the officials said. The average monthly receipt of complaints increased from 272 in 2019 to 956 in 2022, 1,313 in 2021, 5,565 in 2022, and 8,553 in the first three months of 2023, they said. To deal with the rising number of complaints received on cyber crime helpline number '1930', Haryana police has increased call lines from six to ten and number of people manning the lines from 18 to 40. Haryana's Additional DGP (Crime) O P Singh said the victims of cyber crime were being attended to round-the-clock by police. Haryana Police recovered Rs 56.9 crore from the cyber frauds in the past three

Rising online frauds: Gurugram woman loses Rs 76 lakh in movie review scam

Citizens have been getting duped on the pretext of reviewing content and earning quick money

About 52% of organisations suffered data breach in past 2 years globally

Nearly 48 per cent of Indian organisations say their security stack is too complex, compared to 28 per cent in the rest of the world

Mumbai saw 70% rise in cyber crime cases in 2022: Dy CM Fadnavis

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said Mumbai witnessed a 70 per cent rise in cyber crime cases in 2022 compared to the previous year. At least 4,286 cases of cyber fraud were registered in Mumbai over a period of one year till November 2022, Fadnavis said responding to a question by MLC Bhai Girkar in the state Legislative Council. Till November 2022, the Mumbai police commissionerate recorded a 70 per cent rise in cyber frauds compared to the cases recorded till November 2021, the deputy chief minister said. As many as 1,294 cases of credit card and online frauds were registered in the city till November 2022 and of these, 37 have been solved, he said. There were 2,216 of cases involving online shopping, crypto currency investment, admissions in educational institutions, insurance, investment and jobs frauds registered during this period and 132 have been detected, he said. Of 4,268 cyber fraud cases registered in a year till November 2022, only 279 h