Obscure Jamtara in Jharkhand has become cyber crimes hub: Home Secy

More than half of India's cyber crimes are being committed by fraudsters from an obscure place called Jamtara in Jharkhand, Union Home Secretary Rajib Gauba said today.

Gauba, a 1982-batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre, also said that Jamtara, located in Santhal Pargana region, has become the "underbelly" of digital India due to the notoriety it received as the country's cyber crimes hub.

"Jamtara is a sleepy town in the tribal region of Santhal Pargana. It continues to be an obscure town. But in the last few years it got the notoriety as cyber crimes hub," he said at a conference on homeland security here.

"More than half of India's cyber crimes, mostly committed by fraudsters posing as bank managers, were traced back to this small town. This place has become digital India's underbelly," Gauba said.

The home secretary said victims of the fraudsters located in Jamtara are spread across the country.

"The NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) data has not been fully captured the Jamtara's contribution to cyber crime in the country," he said.

Gauba said the reason for highlighting the fraudsters of Jamtara was to show the manner in which the crime was being committed with ease by criminals sitting in a small town.

"These are not highly educated individuals. They are youngsters with little education. They have taken into cyber crime in a big way," he said.

The home secretary said the region was know for petty criminals and thugs and earlier their modus operandi was drugging train passengers, looting them, stealing coal, other minerals, because the region is mineral rich.

"Now they have shifted their modus operandi and they are using smart phones to make a quick buck. This is just a simple example of a larger trend and larger phenomena. I think the arena of activities have shifted to cyber crime. Increasingly people do their transactions online, whether it is buying groceries or books, social interactions.

"So arena of crime is also growing and that is why the law enforcement agencies have to rise and comprehend, undergo massive, I would say tectonic shift in the modus operandi -- from physical world to cyber space," he said.