Parliament Question: Cyber crime in Erode district

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1338 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 11TH FEBRUARY, 2026/ MAGHA 22, 1947 (SAKA) CYBER CRIME IN ERODE DISTRICT 1338 SHRI ANTHIYUR P. SELVARASU: Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state: (a) whether Government has reviewed cyber crime and digital fraud affecting citizens in Erode district, Tamil Nadu, including Erode city and Perundurai with increasing online payment usage; (b) if so, the details of Government complaint reporting, investigation status, recovery actions, cyber policing training and awareness campaigns conducted in Erode district; and (c) the steps proposed to be taken by Government to strengthen cybercrime units, faster complaint resolution, victim support systems and preventive awareness programmes in the said district? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI BANDI SANJAY KUMAR) (a) to (c): The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles and publishes the statistical data on crimes in its publication “Crime in India”. The latest published report is for the year 2023. As per the data published by the NCRB, cases registered (CR), cases chargesheeted (CCS) and cases disposed off by Police (CDOP) under fraud under cyber crimes (involving communication devices as medium/target) in Tamil Nadu during the year 2021 to 2023 are as below:-2- R.S.US.Q.NO. 1338 FOR 11.02.2026 Year CR CCS CDOP 2021 107 0 4 2022 251 21 24 2023 887 14 40 The NCRB collects cases registered only at district level. As per the data published by the NCRB, cases registered (CR) under fraud under cyber crime (involving communication devices as medium/target) in Erode district during the year 2021 to 2023 is as below: Year CR 2021 0 2022 0 2023 0 ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. The States/UTs are primarily responsible for the prevention, detection, investigation complaint reporting, , recovery actions, to strengthen cybercrime units, victim support systems and prosecution of crimes including cyber fraud through their Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs). The Central Government supplements the initiatives of the States/UTs through advisories and financial assistance under various schemes for capacity building of their LEAs. To strengthen the mechanism to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, the Central Government has taken steps which, inter-alia, include the following:-3- R.S.US.Q.NO. 1338 FOR 11.02.2026 i. The Ministry of Home Affairs has set up the ‘Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’ (I4C) as an attached office to deal with all types of cyber crimes in the country, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner. ii. The ‘National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal’ (NCRP) (https://cybercrime.gov.in) has been launched, as a part of the I4C, to enable public to report incidents pertaining to all types of cyber crimes, with special focus on cyber crimes against women and children. Cyber crime incidents reported on National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, their conversion into FIRs and subsequent action i.e. filing of chargesheets, arrest and resolution of complaints, thereon are handled by the State/UT Law Enforcement Agencies concerned as per the provisions of the law. iii. The ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’ (CFCFRMS), under I4C, has been launched in year 2021 for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters. As per CFCFRMS operated by I4C, till 31.12.2025, financial amount of more than Rs. 8,189 Crore has been saved in more than 23.61 lakh complaints. A toll-free Helpline number ‘1930’ has been operationalized to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints. iv. A State of the Art, Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC) has been established at I4C where representatives of major banks, Financial Intermediaries, Payment Aggregators, Telecom Service Providers, IT Intermediaries and representatives of States/UTs Law Enforcement Agency are working together for immediate action and seamless cooperation to tackle cybercrime. v. I4C, MHA is regularly organising ‘State Connect’, ‘Thana Connect’ and Peer learning session to share best practices, enhance capacity building, etc. -4- R.S.US.Q.NO. 1338 FOR 11.02.2026vi. The state of the art National-Digital Investigation Support Centre (previously known as National Cyber Forensic (Investigation) Laboratory {NCFL(I)}) has been established, as a part of the I4C, at New Delhi (on 18.02.2019) and at Assam (on 29.08.2025) to provide early stage cyber forensic assistance to Investigating Officers (IOs) of State/UT Police. Till 31.12.2025, National-Digital Investigation Support Centre, New Delhi has provided its services to State/UT LEAs in more than 13,299 cases pertaining to cyber crimes. vii. The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platform, namely ‘CyTrain’ portal has been developed under I4C, for capacity building of police officers/judicial officers through online course on critical aspects of cyber crime investigation, forensics, prosecution etc. Till 31.12.2025, more than 1,47,665 police officers/judicial officers from States/UTs are registered and more than 1,34,423 Certificates issued through the portal. viii. ‘Sahyog’ Portal has been launched to expedite the process of sending notices to IT intermediaries by the Appropriate Government or its agency under clause (b) of sub-section (3) of section 79 of the IT Act, 2000 to facilitate the removal or disabling of access to any information, data or communication link being used to commit an unlawful act. ix. A Suspect Registry of identifiers of cyber criminals has been launched by I4C on 10.09.2024 in collaboration with Banks/Financial Institutions. Till 31.12.2025, more than 21.65 lakh suspect identifier data received from Banks and 26.48 lakh Layer 1 mule accounts have been shared with the participating entities of Suspect Registry and declined transactions worth Rs. 9055.27 crores. x. Seven Joint Cyber Coordination Teams (JCCTs) have been constituted for Mewat, Jamtara, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Vishakhapatnam, and Guwahati under I4C covering the whole country -5- R.S.US.Q.NO. 1338 FOR 11.02.2026based upon cyber crime hotspots/ areas having multi jurisdictional issues by onboarding States/UTs to enhance the coordination framework among the Law Enforcement Agencies of the States/UTs. xi. Samanvaya Platform has been made operational to serve as an Management Information System (MIS) platform, data repository and a coordination platform for LEAs for cybercrime data sharing and analytics. It provides analytics based interstate linkages of crimes and criminals, involved in cybercrime complaints in various States/UTs. The module ‘Pratibimb’ maps locations of criminals and crime infrastructure on a map to give visibility to jurisdictional officers. The module also facilitates seeking and receiving of techno-legal assistance by Law Enforcement Agencies from I4C and other SMEs. It has lead to arrest of more than 20,853 accused and more than 1,35,074 Cyber Investigation assistance request. xii. The Central Government has taken various initiatives to create cyber crime awareness which, inter-alia, include:- 1) The Hon'ble Prime Minister spoke about digital arrests during the episode "Mann Ki Baat" on 27.10.2024 and apprised the citizens of India. 2) A special programme was organized by Aakashvani, New Delhi on Digital Arrest on 28.10.2024. 3) Caller Tune Campaign: I4C is collaboration with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched a caller tune campaign with effect from 19.12.2024 for raising awareness about cybercrime and promoting the Cybercrime Helpline Number 1930 & NCRP portal. The caller tunes were also being broadcast in English, Hindi and 10 regional languages by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). Six -6- R.S.US.Q.NO. 1338 FOR 11.02.2026versions of caller tunes were played which cover various modus- operandi, namely, Digital Arrest, Investment Scam, Malware, Fake Loan App, Fake Social Media Advertisements. 4) The Central Government has launched a comprehensive awareness programme on digital arrest scams which, inter-alia, include; newspaper advertisement, announcement in Delhi Metros, use of social media influencers to create special posts, campaign through Prasar Bharti and electronic media, special programme on Aakashvani. 5) In partnership with DD News, I4C conducted a cybercrime awareness campaign running through Weekly Show Cyber-Alert starting from 19th July 2025 for 52 Weeks. 6) To further spread awareness on cyber crime, the Central Government has taken steps which, inter-alia, include; dissemination of messages through SMS, I4C social media account i.e. X (formerly Twitter) (@CyberDost), Facebook (CyberDostI4C), Instagram (CyberDostI4C), Telegram(cyberdosti4c), SMS campaign, TV campaign, Radio campaign, School Campaign, advertisement in cinema halls, celebrity endorsement, IPL campaign, campaign during Kumbh Mela 2025& Suraj Kund Mela 2025, engaged MyGov for publicity in multiple mediums, bvorganizing Cyber Safety and Security Awareness weeks in association with States/UTs, publishing of Handbook for Adolescents/Students, digital displays on railway stations and airports across, etc. *****