Cyber fraud funds worth ₹8,031 crore blocked due to special I4C registry: Government

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A registry of suspects, introduced in 2024, will help banks and financial institutions “reject” transactions worth more than The government informed Parliament on Tuesday, December 9 that Rs 8,000 crore is suspected to be involved in cyber crimes, with over 18 lakh suspicious persons identified and 24.67 lakh mule accounts flagged.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar told the Lok Sabha in a written reply that “Suspect Registry of Identifiers of Cyber Criminals has been launched on 10.09.2024 by I4C (Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre) in collaboration with banks and financial institutions.” He was asked about the government’s detailed strategy to curb cyber crimes.

“So far, more than 18.43 lakh suspect identifier data received from banks and 24.67 lakh Layer 1 Mule accounts has been shared with the participating entities of the suspect registry and transactions have been declined

₹8031.56 crore,” the minister said.

Mule accounts are bank accounts that are used to launder funds from financial crimes including cyber crimes and they are either created using false KYC documents or the original owners are unaware of the misuse. Such funds are transferred through multi-layered mule accounts.

Kumar said that the platform named ‘Pratibimb’ has helped in the arrest of 16,840 accused. He did not specify the time period here.

‘Prativmb’ is a crime-mapping module that tracks locations and digital infrastructure used by criminals.

The Minister also informed about the setting up of ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’ (CFCFRMS) under I4C in 2021 for “immediate” reporting of financial frauds and to prevent misappropriation of funds by fraudsters.

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“So far, the financial amount exceeds Rs 7,130 crore has been saved in over 23.02 lakh complaints,” Kumar said.

According to the minister, to enhance investigation capabilities, the Home Ministry also set up National Cyber Forensic Laboratories in Delhi and Assam.

He said the Delhi laboratory alone has supported investigations in 12,952 cyber crime cases, providing “significant” early-stage forensic support to investigators across states and union territories.

The government has prioritized capacity building through the Cytrain online training platform, which has issued 1.19 lakh certificates to police and judicial officers, and the Cyber Commando programme, under which 281 commandos have received specialized training in premier institutions.