11,997 cards, net banking frauds reported in Apr-Dec 2015: Telecom minister

The minister said that there has been a rise in number of cyber breaches & cyber crime threats in the country

Close to 12,000 cases of frauds related to credit or debit cards and net banking were reported by banks during nine months to December 2015, Parliament was informed on Friday.

As per the data made available by Reserve Bank of India 8,765, 9,500, 13,083 and 11,997 cases related to ATM/credit/ debit cards and net banking related frauds were reported by banks during 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 (upto December 2015), respectively, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

Also, as per the latest cyber crime data made available by NCRB, a total of 2,876, 4,356 and 7,201 cyber crime cases were registered under IT Act 2000 during 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively.

"A total of 601, 1,337 and 2,272 cases were registered under cybercrime related sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) during 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively," he added.

The Minister said there has been a rise in number of cyber breaches and cyber crime threats in the country with the proliferation of IT and related services.

"As per the information reported to and tracked by CERT-In, a total number of 41,319, 44,679 and 49,455 cyber security incidents including phishing, scanning, malicious code, website intrusion, denial of service etc were reported during the year 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively," he added.

In addition, 54,677, 85,659 and 61,628 spam (unsolicited email) incidents were reported to CERT-In.

Prasad said over a period, the nature and pattern of incidents have become more sophisticated and complex.

"CBI has registered 56 cases (regular cases and preliminary enquiry) during the last three years. This includes 11, 20 and 25 cases in the year 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively," he said.

In response to another query, Prasad said challenges are faced by law enforcement agencies when dark net/dark web technologies are used by cyber criminals as they provide restricted access as well as prevent monitoring through encryption.

"In view of increasing use of dark net to carry out malicious activities, evolving effective legal solution has been drawing the attention of governments/legal communities worldwide. Government is in touch with international organisations and keeps track of developments by other nations to evolve suitable legal mechanism," he said.