Cyber frauds cost India Rs 177 crore in FY24: How to protect yourself

 The amount of money lost due to cyber fraud in India has more than doubled from Rs 69.68 crore in FY23 to Rs 177.05 crore in FY24.  In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said as much as Rs 177 crore was lost on account of credit, debit card and internet banking frauds in the 2023-24 fiscal.

The quantum of loss in FY22 was Rs 80.33 crore, it was Rs 50.10 crore in FY21 and Rs 44.22 crore in FY20.

 This rise in cyber fraud losses is part of a concerning trend observed over the past few years.

Where the loss is due to the customer's negligence, the customer has to bear the entire loss until he/she reports the unauthorised transaction to the bank.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued guidelines to limit the financial burden placed on customers in case of unauthorized transactions. Customers can avoid any loss if the bank is proven to be negligent or the fault lies elsewhere in the system, provided they report the incident within 3 working days.

 In cases where the customer reports the unauthorized transaction between 4 to 7 working days, their liability may range from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000 depending on the type of account. Beyond 7 working days, the customer's liability is determined by the bank's internal policy. The bank is responsible for proving customer negligence in cases of unauthorized transactions.

"The burden of proving customer liability in case of unauthorised electronic banking transactions shall lie on the bank," Chaudhary said.

How to Report Cyber Fraud:

• National Cybercrime Reporting Portal: The Ministry of Home Affairs has launched a portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) for reporting cyber incidents, including financial frauds.
• National Cybercrime Helpline: A dedicated helpline number (1930) is available for reporting cybercrime.
• Bank Reporting Channels: Customers can also report financial fraud directly to their bank through their official website or branch.

The ‘National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal’ (https://cybercrime.gov.in) has been launched, as a part of the I4C, to enable public to report incidents pertaining to all types of cyber crimes, with special focus on cyber crimes against women and children.

Cyber crime incidents reported on this portal, their conversion into FIRs and subsequent action thereon are handled by the State/UT Law Enforcement Agencies concerned as per the provisions of the law.     

 The ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’, under I4C, has been launched for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters. Since inception of Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System, more than Rs. 1200 Crore have been saved in more than 4.7 lakh complaints.

A toll-free Helpline number ‘1930’ has been operationalized to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints.

CERT-In issues alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats/vulnerabilities and countermeasures to protect computers, mobile phones, networks and data on an ongoing basis. CERT-In, through RBI, has advised all authorised entities and banks issuing pre-paid payment instruments (wallets) in the country to carry out special audit by CERT-In-empanelled auditors, close the non-compliances identified in the audit report and ensure implementation of security best practices.  CERT-In and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) jointly carry out a cyber security awareness campaign on ‘beware and be aware of financial frauds’ through the Digital India Platform.