Digital Arrests And Cyber Crimes Under Watch: Over 7.81 Lakh SIM Cards Blocked By Feb

Cybercrime incidents have grown significantly over the last decade, and the digital arrests in the last few years, with digital arrest incidents more than doubled in 2024. On a question about rising digital arrests incidents, Minister of State in the Ministry Of Home Affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, gave a written reply, saying that the digital arrest cases have risen to 1,23,672 in 2024 compared to 60,676 in 2023 and 39,925 in 2022.

The defrauded amount also grew tremendously from Rs 91.14 crore in 2022 to 339.03 crore in 2023 and Rs 1935.51 crore in 2024.

About the measures taken by the government, the minister detailed the initiatives taken to minimise cyber fraud, saying that:

·      The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) was set up to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive manner. The National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) has been launched as part of I4C, enabling people to report cybercrime incidents online. These complaints are further converted into FIRs and handled by the State or Union territories (UTs) law enforcement agencies.

·      ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’ was another initiative taken in 2021 under I4C. It focuses on financial fraud and enables immediate reporting. As per the data, around Rs 4,386 crore has been saved so far, in around 13.4 lakh complaints.

·      The reporting of complaints has been made easy through calls to the helpline number. Anyone who experiences cyber fraud can call the toll-free helpline number 1930 and lodge a cyber complaint.

·      Several campaigns were run to create awareness about cyber frauds and digital arrest, such as announcements in Delhi Metro, social media posts, newspaper advertisements, caller tune campaign, and press releases by the government about alerting the public against ‘Blackmail’ and ‘Digital Arrest’ by fraudsters impersonating government officials, and so on.

·      The reply stated that I4C has blocked 3,962 Skype IDs and 83,668 WhatsApp accounts so far, which were found to be involved in digital arrest incidents.

·      In addition to this, more than 7.81 SIM cards and 2,08,469 international mobile equipment identities (IMEIs) have also been blocked, as of February 28, 2025.

With the growing digitisation; incidents of cyber attacks, phishing, digital arrests, money mules, and other cybercrimes are rising. While I4C provides a mechanism starting from reporting the cybercrime to handing it over to LEA, there are other initiatives as well to mitigate cyber fraud incidents.

·      Creation of Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC) to bring together representatives from banks, payment aggregators, telecom service providers, financial intermediaries, IT intermediaries, and State and UTs’ LEA to work in tandem for quick action against cybercrimes. 

·      There are Joint Cyber Coordination Teams (JCCTs) under I4C, created, particularly, to deal with cybercrime matters falling under multiple jurisdictions. 

·      Samanvaya Platform was developed as the data repository and coordination platform for LEAs to find cybercrime and criminal details easily and quickly. More than 6,046 accused have been arrested with the help of a location mapping tool. 

·      Besides this, the National Central Bureau (NCB) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) works as an intermediary between Indian and foreign LEAs. BHARATPOL portal is a step in this direction where NCRB, CBI, and Indian LEAs coordinate different matters.

With all these measures, cybercrimes and digital arrests are expected to decline. The data in the reply shows a positive picture of the decline of digital arrest scams and related cyber crimes reported so far in 2025. As of February 28, 2025, there were 17,718 incidents reported with the defrauded amount of Rs 210.21 crore.

·      The reporting of complaints has been made easy through calls to the helpline number. Anyone who experiences cyber fraud can call the toll-free helpline number 1930 and lodge a cyber complaint.

·      Several campaigns were run to create awareness about cyber frauds and digital arrest, such as announcements in Delhi Metro, social media posts, newspaper advertisements, caller tune campaign, and press releases by the government about alerting the public against ‘Blackmail’ and ‘Digital Arrest’ by fraudsters impersonating government officials, and so on.

·      The reply stated that I4C has blocked 3,962 Skype IDs and 83,668 WhatsApp accounts so far, which were found to be involved in digital arrest incidents.

·      In addition to this, more than 7.81 SIM cards and 2,08,469 international mobile equipment identities (IMEIs) have also been blocked, as of February 28, 2025.

With the growing digitisation; incidents of cyber attacks, phishing, digital arrests, money mules, and other cybercrimes are rising. While I4C provides a mechanism starting from reporting the cybercrime to handing it over to LEA, there are other initiatives as well to mitigate cyber fraud incidents.

·      Creation of Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC) to bring together representatives from banks, payment aggregators, telecom service providers, financial intermediaries, IT intermediaries, and State and UTs’ LEA to work in tandem for quick action against cybercrimes. 

·      There are Joint Cyber Coordination Teams (JCCTs) under I4C, created, particularly, to deal with cybercrime matters falling under multiple jurisdictions. 

·      Samanvaya Platform was developed as the data repository and coordination platform for LEAs to find cybercrime and criminal details easily and quickly. More than 6,046 accused have been arrested with the help of a location mapping tool. 

·      Besides this, the National Central Bureau (NCB) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) works as an intermediary between Indian and foreign LEAs. BHARATPOL portal is a step in this direction where NCRB, CBI, and Indian LEAs coordinate different matters.

With all these measures, cybercrimes and digital arrests are expected to decline. The data in the reply shows a positive picture of the decline of digital arrest scams and related cyber crimes reported so far in 2025. As of February 28, 2025, there were 17,718 incidents reported with the defrauded amount of Rs 210.21 crore.