New Delhi, March 25 (NationPress) The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), established by the Ministry of Home Affairs, has successfully identified and blocked over 83,668 WhatsApp accounts and 3,962 Skype IDs associated with Digital Arrest, as communicated to the Parliament on Tuesday.

In addition, the Government has blocked more than 7.81 lakh SIM cards and 2,08,469 IMEIs following police complaints, as stated by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar in a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha.

Digital Arrest refers to a type of cybercrime where fraudsters impersonate law enforcement officials to falsely accuse individuals of crimes, coercing them for money or personal details through threats of arrest or imprisonment.

Since 2021, it has been reported that a Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System has been established to report financial frauds and prevent the diversion of funds by scammers, resulting in savings exceeding Rs 4,386 crore across more than 13.36 lakh complaints.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) does not specifically compile or disclose data concerning digital arrest scams, according to the MoS. He mentioned that the MHA has created the I4C as an attached office to comprehensively tackle all forms of cyber crimes across the nation.

Providing information on how citizens can report digital arrests and other cyber crimes, he stated that the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (https://cybercrime.gov.in) has been launched as part of the I4C, allowing the public to report incidents related to all kinds of cyber crimes.

The MoS explained that incidents of cyber crime reported through this portal are converted into FIRs and managed by State/UT Law Enforcement Agencies.

Furthermore, the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System, operational under I4C since 2021, enables immediate reporting of financial frauds and aims to halt the misappropriation of funds by fraudsters.

“To date, over Rs 4,386 crore has been saved through more than 13.36 lakh complaints. A toll-free helpline number, ‘1930’, has been established to assist individuals in filing online cyber complaints,” he indicated.

To raise awareness among citizens, the Central Government has implemented a broad awareness initiative targeting digital arrest scams, which includes newspaper advertisements, announcements in Delhi Metros, collaboration with social media influencers for special posts, campaigns through Prasar Bharti and electronic media, and special programs on Aakashvani.