Parliament Question: Promoting Cyber Crime Awareness

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1511 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 29TH JULY, 2025/ SRAVANA 7, 1947 (SAKA) PROMOTING CYBER CRIME AWARENESS 1511. SHRI Y S AVINASH REDDY: Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state: (a) the details of any national campaigns or initiatives aimed at promoting cyber crime awareness among citizens; (b) the measures taken to equip law enforcement agencies with the necessary skills and resources to combat cyber crime effectively and any recent training programme implemented; (c) the investments made in technology infrastructure and cyber security tools to strengthen the nation's overall cyber resilience; and (d) whether any assessment has been conducted on the impact of these initiatives on reduction of cyber crime incidents and if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI BANDI SANJAY KUMAR) (a) and (b): ‘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 and prosecution of crimes including cyber crime through their Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs). The Central Government supplements the initiatives of the-2- L.S.US.Q.NO. 1511 FOR 29.07.2025 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: 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 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 Akashvani, 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-3- L.S.US.Q.NO. 1511 FOR 29.07.2025 languages by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). Six versions 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 and participated in Raahgiri Function at Connaught Place, New Delhi on 27.10.2024. 5) 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, engaged MyGov for publicity in multiple mediums, organizing 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.-4- L.S.US.Q.NO. 1511 FOR 29.07.2025 iii. 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 this portal, their conversion into FIRs and subsequent action thereon are handled by the State/UT Law Enforcement Agencies concerned as per the provisions of the law. iv. 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, financial amount of more than Rs. 5,489 Crore has been saved in more than 17.82 lakh complaints so far. A toll-free Helpline number ‘1930’ has been operationalized to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints. v. 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.-5- L.S.US.Q.NO. 1511 FOR 29.07.2025 vi. So far, more than 9.42 lakhs SIM cards and 2,63,348 IMEIs as reported by Police authorities have been blocked by Government of India. vii. The Ministry of Home Affairs has provided financial assistance under the ‘Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC)’ Scheme, to the States/UTs for their capacity building such as setting up of cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories, hiring of junior cyber consultants and training of LEAs’ personnel, public prosecutors and judicial officers. Cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories have been commissioned in 33 States/UTs and more than 24,600 LEA personnel, judicial officers and prosecutors have been provided training on cyber crime awareness, investigation, forensics etc. viii. I4C, MHA is regularly organising ‘State Connect’, ‘Thana Connect’ and Peer learning session to share best practices, enhance capacity building, etc. ix. The state of the art ‘National Cyber Forensic Laboratory (Investigation)’ has been established, as a part of the I4C, at New Delhi to provide early stage cyber forensic assistance to Investigating Officers (IOs) of State/UT Police. So far, National Cyber Forensics Laboratory (Investigation) has provided its services to State/UT LEAs in around 12,460 cases pertaining to cyber crimes.-6- L.S.US.Q.NO. 1511 FOR 29.07.2025 x. 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. More than 1,05,796 Police Officers from States/UTs are registered and more than 82,704 Certificates issued through the portal. 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 10,599 accused, 26,096 linkages and 63,019 Cyber Investigation assistance request. xii. ‘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,-7- L.S.US.Q.NO. 1511 FOR 29.07.2025 2000 to facilitate the removal or disabling of access to any information, data or communication link being used to commit an unlawful act. (c): The Government of India is committed to enhance national cyber resilience and various Government Ministries/Departments and Central agencies like Department of Telecom, MeitY, Department of Financial Services, Reserve Bank of India, Intelligence Bureau, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C), etc., are investing in technological infrastructure and cyber security tools. MHA has spent more than Rs. 500 crore since 2017 for strengthening of cyber forensic capacity, coordination and capacity building of LEAs. In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs also releases funds under the Assistance to States & UTs for Modernization of Police (ASUMP) scheme. (d): No such specific study has been undertaken. However, the initiatives such as establishment of National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, Capacity building of LEAs, enhancement of Forensic setup, comprehensive awareness campaign, etc has resulted in creating an ecosystem for cybercrime awareness, ease of reporting and effective investigation of cybercrime. *****