DELHI POLICE CYBER CRIME UNIT HARDENS LAWS, BUSTS SEVERAL FRAUDS, SOCIAL MEDIA CRIMES IN THE PANDEMIC YEAR
Ujjawala Nayudu
New Delhi February 27
While information technology helped citizens sail through the pandemic, a fraction of people fell prey to the cybercrimes from online frauds, phishing attacks, fake news to online harassment. The cybercrime unit recorded over 300 cases, some at a huge scale of frauds and arrested more than 280 persons in last one year while hardened cyber laws with the help of some regulating bodies and ministries.
The cybercrime cell witnessed a two fold increase in the incidents between April to July 2020 during the peak of the lockdown. The increase was primarily driven by online frauds which accounted for the lion’s share (two-third) of all cybercrimes. The cyber cell witnessed 62% of online frauds, 24% social media related cases and 14% other cybercrimes.
The CyPad (Cyber Crime Unit of Delhi Police) geared up to register and probe the cases recorded across the national capital.
DCP Cybercrime Anyesh Roy stated that with the sudden increase in cases and the challenge of pandemic to face, the cybercrime officials were immediately with online training in the new cybercrime trends. As many as 1300 policemen were trained tacking new crimes to aide investigations.
The CyPad made intensive online coordination with intermediaries such as OTTs, ISPs and TSPs to ensure timely receipt of crime and criminal data despite the lockdown. The cyber criminals from far off states such as Telangana, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, West Bengal, etc.
In order to tackle fake news and online nuisance, the officials harnessed digital platforms, particularly, radio and social media, to create awareness about cyber threats and safe online habits.
According to the CyPad officials, they witnessed a considerable in cases of extortion by morphing videos of people (especially related to sexual conduct).
Apart from this, reimbursement of fake reward points or cash-backs, SOS messages through fake Facebook accounts, Customer Care number manipulation through search-engine optimization resulting in frauds in the guise of refund of airline tickets and other online payments, etc., were the trends that the cyber criminals allegedly adopted for duping citizens.
Elaborating on how the cybercrime cells handled and proved these cases, the officials stated a three-tiered cyber investigation structure was put in place. The cyber officials undertook counter-measures against cybercrimes at multiple levels. Thus, the police stations handled common complaints related to online harassment and digitally-enabled crimes, while the district cyber cells handled common online frauds such as phishing, social media frauds, etc.
The CyPAD Unit detected one of big cases of cyber criminals operating in Mewat who targeted users of resale mobile applications. 43 cases were registered against frauds pertaining to resale Apps originating from the Mewat region. A total of 41 persons were arrested in these cases. The action led to 53% drop in complaints of such frauds on National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, the officials said.
Several fake websites in the name of government sprung up which were found to be allegedly misleading citizens with fake information on financial help to schemes. The investigation of these fake websites in the name of Ayushman Yojana, PM Shishu Vikas Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, Election Commission Voter ID Card, Public Sector, Oil & Gas Companies, Min. of Health & Family, Food Corporation of India, DGFT (Director General of Foreign Trade) etc. was taken and their owners or operators were arrested.
The officials added that in many cases, the action against these fake websites was initiated suo moto on the basis of intelligence inputs and this helped in protecting significant proportion of citizens from falling prey to these fake sites.
Child Pornography and Obscenity on social media was also an issue to face. The CyPad launched Operation MASOOM (Mitigation of Adolescent Sexually Offensive Online Material). 26 persons have been arrested in the year 2020 for sharing pictures and videos containing sexually offensive content against children online.
The unit also busted fake government websites created by fraudsters in the name of popular government schemes such as Ayushman Yojana, PM Cares, etc.
Ten fake call centres operating at a big base in Delhi were busted. These centres were engaged in job frauds, loan frauds, tech-support frauds and IRS/SSN frauds targeting Indian as well as foreign nationals. 125 persons were arrested who were found to be allegedly cheating foreign nationals. Three of these big call centres were found to be operating from Moti Nagar, Rajouri Garden and Peeragarhi of Delhi.
The cyber forensic lab probed several cases and found that the cybercriminal used tools such as memory, mobile, cloud, malware and crypto-forensics and the labs for enhancement of image and video to commit various frauds. The cyber forensic lab aided 300 cases of various cybercrimes registered in last one year.
The cyber officials also ensured that the laws were formulated and hardened to stop the frauds.
The Delhi Police had, in coordination with other stakeholders such as Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), MEITY, DoT, etc., undertook steps towards target hardening for cyber frauds.
With the help of the Department of Telecom, Delhi Police had harnessed the provisions of Unified License Agreement and Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951, to block unlawful content and connections. In addition to that, the Delhi Police had, in coordination with I4C, MHA and Reserve Bank of India, successfully started a Citizen Financial Fraud Reporting and Management System for preventing monetary loss to victims of cyber frauds. These blocked further frauds and online cheating scams that sprouted during the same period.
The CyPad officials also hardened the rules on the use of fake SIM cards in the city. In order to make the process of acquiring and using fake SIM Cards difficult for fraudsters, Delhi Police had consistently worked with I4C, MHA and DoT, to develop systems through which the mobile numbers used in cyber frauds get re-verified and blocked. By using the provisions of Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951, and Universal User License Agreement of DoT, thousands of numbers have been shared with DoT for action through TERM Cells. The officials found 14,259 mobile numbers linked to resale App frauds originating from Mewat region, were shared with DoT for KYC verification and imposition of fines by respective TERM Cells.
To make the movement of defrauded money difficult across the digital platform, Delhi Police has coordinated with I4C/MHA to operate a Citizen Online Financial Fraud Reporting and Management System, with the objective of intercepting and blocking the defrauded money while it was still in the digital form. More than 60 stakeholders of the online financial ecosystem, comprising of banks, wallets, payment gateways, credit card companies, etc., have been made part of this initiative. The CyPad has taken up regular coordination with RBI, Mumbai, for bringing in more financial intermediaries into the initiative. The cyber experts believe that once this system becomes fully functional, majority of the defrauded money will be intercepted and blocked before it leaves the digital ecosystem.
(AWARENESS & PREVENTION)
Cyber UDAY (Universal Direct Awareness in Youth) – A programme involving direct, one-to-one sessions in schools/colleges. It focused on cyber threats such as
Grooming, Sexting, Bullying of youngsters, etc. 61 institutions and over 14,000 youth have been covered under this initiative. Awareness content based on NCMEC (National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children) template has been prepared and the same was shared with participating in schools/colleges.
Workshops for School Computer Teachers – A continuous programme run by the CyPAD Unit of Delhi Police. It aims to harness teachers as force-multipliers in the fight against cybercrimes, esp. those targeting children. 1502 school computer teachers from 1225 schools have been sensitized on cyber threats and safe online habits under this programme. Several information on safety was shared with teachers who incorporate cyber safety messages based on this content, as part of routine computer lab activities as well as morning assemblies.
Cyber Awareness for School Children -A Radio campaign was undertaken in collaboration with a prominent FM Radio Channel and TV News Channel in Oct-Nov, 2020. 24 Case Studies were shared over a month with re-enactments, modus description, police action and safety instructions.
Social Media- Several short videos on cyber safety were pushed through Delhi Police Social Media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc. Successful detections of cyber criminals were also shared on social media to make people aware about new modus operandi.
