Pegged to be a game-changer, the ministry of home affairs is all set to start a new wing that will exclusively deal with cyber financial fraud in real-time by saving the victim’s money. Sources said the central government will soon set up the Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre under the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre.
A senior official told News18 that various stakeholders involved in stopping financial fraud will work from one location, sitting at one address. At present, all the agencies dealing with online fraud, including government, banks, telecom service providers, IT intermediaries and social media companies, are working from their offices. Due to this, the interaction between them is through electronic communication that delays the process of putting a stop to financial fraud or transactions.
“To successfully prevent and mitigate cyber-enabled fraud, it was realised that there is an immediate requirement for seamless cooperation among organisations like banks and financial institutions, telecom service providers, IT intermediaries, social media platforms, and law enforcement agencies. The Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC) will fulfil this requirement as all will be working together, which will end delays. The project will be kickstarted within 100 days of the new Narendra Modi-led government,” the official said.
Giving details about the new initiative, MHA sources said, according to the current system, all the agencies work from their offices and communicate electronically. “This arrangement has its limitations in achieving the necessary coordination required for stopping the money siphoned off by cyber criminals in cyber financial fraud. Effective coordination can be achieved by establishing the Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC) and by co-locating representatives of the said organisations,” the sources said.
Not all banks have agreed so far, but major ones have decided to deploy their representatives. “Almost two dozen representatives of major banks, five telecom service providers, two representatives of the Haryana police, and two from the Delhi police have been positioned at CFMC for near real-time coordination to stop cyber-enabled fraud,” a senior official said.
At present, all agencies can save close to 11 per cent of the fraud amount; after this centre is set up, agencies are expecting to save around 50 to 60 per cent of the amount siphoned off from the public. It will also help victims recover money faster than the current system, sources said.
Currently, the Citizen Financial Cyber Frauds Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS) has been developed by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) as part of the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) by integrating law enforcement agencies, major banks and financial intermediaries.
The system helps in taking immediate action on complaints of financial cyber fraud reported by citizens to prevent the flow of money from the victim’s account to the fraudster’s account and to share online fraud-related information in near real-time.
“The national cybercrime helpline number ‘1930’ has been operationalised in all states/UTs for immediate reporting of financial cyber fraud across the country. Cyber-enabled financial fraud forms a large component of cybercrimes reported worldwide. The CFCFRMS has successfully put a ‘lien mark’ of Rs 1,434.27 crore, belonging to 5,25,906 victims. Importantly, after the setup of the new centre, agencies in real-time will save the money within a few minutes of a case being reported,” said another official aware of the development.