NEW DELHI: Sharing that 805 applications and 3,266 website links were blocked, 19 lakh mule accounts caught and suspicious transactions worth over Rs 2,000 crore suspended due to the intervention of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), home minister Amit Shah told a parliamentary panel on Monday that efforts are underway to employ AI for identifying mule accounts for closure.
Shah, while addressing a meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee on home affairs on ‘cyber security and cybercrime’ here, said AI tools will be used, in coordination with RBI and all banks, to establish a system for detection of mule accounts, used by cyber criminals to park swindled funds. He said this will ensure the closure of mule accounts even before they are operational.
Apprising the meeting about the massive expansion of digital infrastructure in India in the recent years – with number of internet users up by 4.5 times over the past decade and 48% of global transactions in 2024 having taken place in India – Shah told the meeting that it had also led to a natural rise in number of cyber attacks.
Highlighting that cyberspace comprises a complex network of ‘software’, ‘services’, and ‘users’, Shah said until “we consider controlling cyber fraud through ‘software’, ‘services’, and ‘users’, it will be impossible to resolve the issues of cyberspace”. He said with India now the third-largest country in the world in terms of digital landscape, the ministry of home affairs (MHA), which is the controlling ministry for I4C, is working to ensure “zero” cybercrime cases.
Elaborating on four types of strategies – convergence, coordination, communication, and capacity – to fight cybercrime, the home ministry said inter-ministerial and inter-departmental coordination within the MHA has been strengthened, ensuring seamless communication and smooth flow of information.
A healthy tradition of exchange of information between the MHA, ministry of electronics and IT, CERT-IN and departments, like telecom and banking, has also led to successful tackling of many cybercrime cases, he added.
Shah emphasized the importance of raising awareness among the public to prevent cybercrime and requested all the members of the committee to promote the I4C helpline number ‘1930’.