Digital arrest fraud: Indians lost Rs 120 crore in January-April 2024
New Delhi: Indians lost a whopping Rs 120.3 crore to ‘digital arrest’ fraud schemes during the first quarter of 2024, according to recent government data. This alarming trend was highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which oversees cybercrime at the national level through the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), noted that digital arrests have recently emerged as a common method of cyber fraud. Many perpetrators of these scams are located in three contiguous southeast Asian countries: Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia.
In its analysis of trends from January to April, the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) found that 46 percent of cyber frauds reported during this period, resulting in cumulative losses of approximately Rs 1,776 crore, originated in these three countries.
As many as 7.4 lakh complaints were received between January 1 and April 30 this year, while 15.56 lakh complaints were received in 2023, according to the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) data as cited by Indian Express.
According to I4C, there are four types of scams — digital arrest, trading scam, investment scam (task based) and romance/dating scam. “We found that Indians lost Rs 120.30 crore in digital arrest, Rs 1,420.48 crore in trading scam, Rs 222.58 crore in investments scam, and Rs 13.23 crore in romance/dating scam,” Chief Executive Officer (I4C), Rajesh Kumar had said while releasing the January-April data in May, according to the publication.
I4C zeroed in on Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia after analysing data on its NCRP, inputs received from states and Union Territories, and some open-source information, IE added.
Kumar emphasised that cybercrime operations in these countries employ various deceptive tactics, such as using social media to recruit Indians by offering fraudulent employment opportunities.
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Siraj shines as Gujarat Titans limit Livingstone-led RCB to 169/8
Bengaluru (PTI): An impeccable Mohammed Siraj led a group of fired-up Gujarat Titans bowlers as they limited the vaunted batting unit of Royal Challengers Bengaluru to 169 for eight despite a providential 54 by Liam Livingstone in the IPL match here on Wednesday.
Once the Titans decided to bowl first, they would not have envisioned such a domination over a potent batting line-up even considering the rather unexpected slow and grippy pitch.
The slip-down started with the wicket of Virat Kohli (7), who began with a lovely cover driven four off Siraj (4-0-19-3).
But the ace batter fell to left-arm seamer Arshad Khan, who came in for Kagiso Rabada, attempting a pull that ended in the hands of Prasidh Krishna at fine leg.
Thereafter the RCB top-order was poleaxed by GT bowlers led by Siraj, who joined the side after a seven-season stint in the red and gold jersey.
Phil Salt, who was dropped on zero by Jos Buttler off Siraj, skipper Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal paraded back to the hut as RCB slumped to 42 for four in 6.2 overs.
However, Salt and Devdutt might feel a tinge of regret because both of them tried to give space to themselves for big shots to get castled by Siraj.
Perhaps, a bit of restraint could have earned them a longer life-span in the middle.
However, the Royal Challengers found some stability through Jitesh Sharma (33, 21b) and Livingstone (54, 40b, 1x4, 5x6) as they added 52 runs off 38 balls for the fifth wicket.
The impressive left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore (2/22), who varied his line and pace exemplarily, broke the alliance, dismissing Jitesh, who skied him to Rahul Tewatia.
It was a redemption point for Tewatia as well because he had earlier dropped Livingstone on 9 off Sai Kishore.
It proved costly for GT as the English batter hammered Rashid Khan for three sixes in an over, two in a row, to reach his fifty in 39 balls.
Livingstone milked 46 precious runs for the seventh wicket with Tim David to take RCB past the 150-run mark.
David's 18-ball 32 (3x4, 2x6) gave the home side some fuel in the death overs.
