In a room full of cyber experts and other officials, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on June 20 emphasised the fact that cybersecurity is integral to national security and the central government is committed to making it robust.

Shah said in 2012, a total of 3,377 cases of cybercrime were reported; it has gone up to 50,000 in 2020. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data released last year, a total of 50,035 cases were registered in 2020 under cybercrime — a rise of 11.8 percent over 2019 (44,735 cases).

Why are cyber crimes on the rise?

Experts listed several reasons for this — increase in online traffic, lack of awareness, lack of technical knowledge among police and people, and difficulties in investigating cybercrime cases. All these factors have encouraged fraudsters to come up with new and innovative modus operandi to scam people.

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Mukesh Choudhary, a cybercrime consultant to the Jaipur Police, said, "Fraudsters are changing their modus operandi very often so that the situation should look more realistic. It should not limit to asking for the OTP or card credentials."

Increase in online traffic

Prof Triveni Singh, SP, Cybercrime, Uttar Pradesh Police, said cyber criminals target all the facilities offered across the world. "They use social engineering tricks to scam people...They are on rise because we do everything on our mobile phones — from studying to buying essential items," he said.

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Meanwhile, Mukesh Choudhary mentioned that scamsters use people's vulnerability and fear to scam them. He said these types of scams involve fear and threat that the account will be discontinued if the amount is not paid.

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Lack of awareness

At a time when fraudsters are coming up with new ways to trick people into loosening their purse strings, the only key to protecting oneself is to be aware.

Benild Joseph, an author and security researcher, said, "It's like you are putting a lock on your home and I (a fraudster) am not breaking it actually. I'm tampering your mind and making you do it. How secure is the lock doesn't matter...the only way to counter it is awareness."

Rakshit Tandon, a cyber security expert and cyber security consultant to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said people need to be fully aware of the security features of the applications they use.

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Mukesh Choudhary advised people to learn about technology and think twice before transferring money to someone. "People should understand and be tech-savvy...either you stop using the technology or you adapt and learn...," he said.

It is our default setup to believe everything. People need to think in a different way in this digital world and be vigilant about what crimes are being committed - Triveni Singh

Open sale of data base

From Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to CoWIN, hackers are selling everything on the dark web.

In 2021, cybersecurity expert, Rajshekhar Rajahria found at least three Indian companies – e-marketplace ClickIndia, fintech startup for small business owners ChqBook and wedding planning website WedMeGood – whose database had been compromised.

"Data privacy bill is not being implemented in India and data base is being sold on multiple platforms," Mukesh Choudhary said.

Fewer FIRs lead to lesser conviction rate

Scammers don't fear the system as India is registering a very limited number of cases. Home Minister Amit Shah also noted that the number of cybercrimes which were not reported could run in lakhs.

Not even 2 percent of the cases are being converted into FIRs - Mukesh Choudhary

"Scamsters are not afraid since there are very few FIRs being registered. Most of the crimes are also bailable offences. Thus fewer arrests are made," Mukesh Choudhary said.

Why are cases not being registered?

Tandon said majority of police officers are not tech-savvy. "To investigate (cybercrime cases), there's some technical skill required. There's a difference between traditional investigation and cyber investigation. Police were never trained for cyber and technical investigations.

However, things are changing and trainings specific to cyber investigations have now started, Tandon added.

People don't know whom to visit at the police station. One should look for a duty officer at the police station or meet the Station House Officer (SHO) of the police station. "One doesn't need to have connections or contacts to meet the police officers. Also, there's no need to pay the money (to get a case filed)," Choudhary said.

But Savdhaan Rahiye, Satark Rahiye (be cautioned and aware) seems to be the motto if you want to avoid being the next cyber crime victim.

(Edited by : Akanksha Upadhyay)