Cyber crime menace needs to be tackled through secure ecosystem

The rising menace of cyber crime has been flagged as one of the priority issues by the Centre, with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) having directed all relevant stakeholders including the CBI, NIA, RBI and police forces as well as investigative agencies to create a coordinated and highly secure ecosystem to combat this challenge. The basic concern is to ensure that the common man is insulated from different kinds of cyber frauds which are clouding the horizon almost on a daily basis.

Even Union Home Minister Amit Shah has emphasised that cybercrime, which was earlier carried out at an individual level, is now being executed in an institutionalised manner. Cyber criminals are continuously evolving their methods by using various kinds of advanced technologies, he noted recently, adding that therefore it is the collective responsibility of representatives of all agencies and departments engaged in combating cybercrime to deeply understand their challenges and commit to minimising vulnerabilities at every possible level.

While addressing a two-day national conference on ‘Tackling Cyber-enabled frauds and dismantling the ecosystem’, the Home Minister called for concrete and coordinated efforts to make the fight against cybercrime more effective.

Significantly, Shah noted that the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the cyber crime wing of the Home Ministry, since its inception in 2019, has set up an effective coordination among various government agencies and acted decisively against cyber criminals, however in terms of action against cybercriminals, criminal justice processes and money recovery cases, there is still a need to strengthen several aspects more effectively, he pointed out.

While the helpline 1930 has proved to be an effective tool in saving victims of cyber fraud, Shah has called upon all police units across the country to ensure that a sufficient number of call handlers are deployed at the 1930 call centres.

If a victim’s call is not answered even after ringing several times, by then their money is gone, and it places a serious question mark on the credibility of 1930, Shah pointed out during the conference-cum-workshop.

He further stated that similarly, all private, public, and cooperative banks should immediately adopt the Mule Account Hunter software jointly developed by the Government of India and the RBI. Until all banks completely clean their accounts using this software, it will not be possible to provide full protection to consumers, the Home Minister underlined.

Till November 30, 2025, more than 8.2 million cybercrime-related complaints had been registered on the I4C portal, of which 184,000 were converted into FIRs, and a large number of complaints were effectively resolved, MHA sources said.

The MHA has set a clear target to onboard all banking and financial institutions, including cooperative banks, fully into the I4C portal system before December 2026.

With the help of 3,61,000 cyber fraud complaints, the Government has successfully safeguarded Rs 8,189 crore, which is a significant figure, however according to estimates, the total amount of fraud was around Rs 20,000 crore, out of which the MHA has frozen or returned Rs 8,189 crore to the victims.

In another step towards preventing cyber frauds, by December 2025, the MHA had cancelled more than 12 lakh suspicious SIM cards and blocked the IMEI numbers of over three lakh mobile devices.

Till date, almost 21,000 accused persons have been arrested in cybercrime cases across the country, official sources have informed.

During the conference, it was specially pointed out that with rising digital transactions, the associated risks have also increased. Cyber criminals, who once relied on simple manual hacking, are now using complex automated techniques. What were once isolated “lone wolf” attacks have evolved into organised and systematic criminal operations, official sources said.

MHA sources said that 795 institutions, including banks, fintech companies, NBFCs, and e-commerce platforms, are currently connected with I4C, which will help strengthen the infrastructure to combat the threat of cyber crime.