Cybercrime: Think before you click

PATNA: While digital technology has benefited society in many ways, it has also created new challenges as far as cybersecurity is concerned. Cybercrime has spared none, and people of Bihar are no exception. From less-educated villagers to highly qualified IAS officers, almost everyone is a potential prey. Receiving messages or calls from unknown numbers for bank KYC updates, account details and work from home offers is quite common these days. Though most people know that these are various tricks of cybercriminals to fool them, they still get brainwashed and fall prey to the menace.

The extent to which this menace has spread in Bihar can be gauged from the last six months’ data available on National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (helpline number 1930), which was revamped in the state on February 26 by the Economic Offences Unit (EOU). The helpline received 21,299 calls in three days of the revamp of the toll-free number. Also, a total of 21,661 complaints have been lodged in six-month period, while Rs 13.20 crore has been put on hold.

The data shows around 80% rise in the number of calls received on the toll-free number in Bihar. While 51,398 calls were received in March, the number rose to 94,539 in August, even though many went unreported.

Bihar had recorded only 1,050 cybercrimes before the outbreak of Covid in 2019. After the Covid outbreak, the state recorded a jump of 180% in such cases, as per National Crime Records Bureau. Now, the helpline receives approximately 1,800-2,000 calls each day. Going by August figures, it is around 3,000 calls per day.

Covid booster for cybercrooks: EOU additional director general (ADG) Nayyar Khan attributes the rise to the Covid period, saying initially they started receiving complaints about frauds on the pretext of providing oxygen and necessary drugs in 2021. “During lockdown, digital transactions increased and work from home started. Unemployed youth with technical knowhow took this opportunity to dupe unsuspecting people using social media,” he added.

This initially started with the scarcity of oxygen cylinders and drugs when people were running helter-skelter for these. Anti-socials started misusing the situation by collecting cellphone numbers and randomly contacting people in the guise of helping them. Some of them even established contact with people living abroad and whose elderly parents were alone in India, telling them they can provide the necessary equipment and drugs, but at high prices. The panic was such that people gave what the frauds demanded, but the victims got no services.

According to Khan, these gangs were active not just in Bihar but all over the country. “Earlier, it was not the EOU’s specific mandate to go into such matters. However, a special cell was constituted with a selected team of officers who were interested in this kind of technical job. They were asked to verify these complaints. More than 17-18 such cases were registered; people were arrested and a huge amount of money was recovered. This is when the EOU’s cyber wing became active,” Khan said.

The ADG said Patna, Nalanda, Nawada, Sheikhpura and Gaya districts are the hotspots of cybercrime in the state.

Multi-faceted job: With the increase in the volume of cybercrime, the EOU started taking multi-pronged actions. Tracking these faceless criminals was next to impossible as they used to commit crimes using phone numbers procured on fake identities and the bank accounts where the duped sum was transferred were also opened with false documents. The EOU started a drive against fake sim cards and around 5,000 were deactivated in the state. However, the cybercriminals always think one step ahead and come up with new tricks.

As standard operations to nab them were not enough, emphasis was laid on cyber training to sensitise the police force about the IT Act and the methodology for investigation. The ADG said special cyber courses were started on the guidelines of the Bureau of Police Research and Development, government of India, which has a special Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C). “We started training prosecutors and judicial officers as well. So far, we have trained 800 police officers, over 400 prosecutors and 300 judicial magistrates. It’s a five-day training module and three sessions are conducted per day. They are trained about collection and extraction of evidence from hardware, cellphones, data cards and so on, apart from the use of digital search engines,” he said.

The EOU has also established a cyber forensic lab at its office on Bailey Road, which caters to all the districts.

Redressal of complaints: Many of these complaints were not being registered earlier, either due to lack of understanding of the cyber law, or the district police considering this to be a completely different domain. “Also, there were no dedicated police stations or a wing, or mechanism to deal with these cases. Keeping this in mind, 44 cyber police stations were opened across the 38 districts in June,” the ADG said.

Earlier, the helpline number 1930, which was not functioning up to its optimal level because of shortage of manpower and technical support, was revamped in February. Now, 35 SIP lines are functional 24x7, manned by 180 constables, 60 each in three shifts, who pursue each and every call, and then divert them to respective districts’ cyber police, said Khan.

Two-pronged process: Once a call is received on 1930, a complaint is registered, the money trail is tracked and the concerned banks are requested to freeze the fraudulent account where the duped amount is transferred.

The victims can fill up an online complaint, or as the ADG says, even if an unlettered person calls their helpline, they help them register the complaint. “So far, we have been able to recover more than Rs 18 crore through locking the fraudulent bank accounts.”

Also, as per the EOU data, Rs 13.20 crore worth fraudulent transactions have been put on hold since February 26. This is around Rs 7.1 lakh per day.

The case is then transferred to the concerned district and investigation begins. If there is a requirement to get information from social media platforms, they are contacted. Once the FIR is registered, banks are requested to release the amount back to its genuine customer.

Solving a cyber fraud is a two-way process – the bank’s process and investigation. Investigation leads to the arrest of the gang and the bank’s process leads to the transfer of the money to the genuine customer.

Banks say customers have to submit a separate complaint, along with the FIR, following which their grievance redressal cell does its own investigation. If the transaction is found to be fraudulent, money is returned to the customer.

On the other hand, the recovered money from the criminals becomes the case property and is put in the government treasury.

Awareness: The EOU is engaging with the public through social media, by organising seminars and even its officers visit schools and colleges to interact with children who are easy targets because of their access to cellphones. The ADG said many games that children download have malware that gets installed unknowingly, reading the details stored in the phone. The EOU also takes the help of the Reserve Bank of India and the home department to hold joint awareness campaigns.

The ADG said there are cyber threats at the border areas too. “Many Chinese apps have been banned. If you are careless, you can be potential prey, especially in Bihar where people get duped very easily because of the low literacy rate,” the ADG said.

Remittances take time: But the remittances take time as banks insist on FIRs. However, as soon as a complaint is registered, the money trail is detected and fraudulent accounts are put on hold.

The EOU has a back office which coordinates with banks. The ADG said in the last six months, Rs 41 lakh was remitted. “But I will be satisfied when the money is returned to the victim within 10 days,” the ADG added.


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