Blocked over 669,000 SIM cards to combat cybercrime: Govt tells Rajya Sabha

As part of its ongoing efforts to combat cybercrime, the government has blocked over 6.69 lakh SIM cards and 1,32,000 IMEI numbers till November 15, 2024.

Responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Women and Child Development Savitri Thakur said this initiative is part of a broader strategy to tackle cybercrime, with a focus on improving the capabilities of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and judicial officers.

In a related development, the Ministry of Home Affairs has launched the 'CyTrain' platform, an online Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) aimed at building the capacity of police and judicial officers. The platform, developed under the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), offers courses on cyber-crime investigation, forensics, and prosecution.

To date, more than 98,698 police officers from various states and Union Territories (UTs) have registered on the platform, with over 75,591 certificates issued.

The government has also provided Rs 131.60 crore in financial assistance through the 'Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC)' scheme under the Nirbhaya Fund.

These funds have supported the establishment of cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories across 33 States and UTs.

Over 24,600 LEA personnel, judicial officers, and public prosecutors have received training on cybercrime awareness, investigation, and forensics.

As part of efforts to block fraudulent international communications, the government has worked with telecom service providers to identify and block incoming spoofed calls that appear to originate from within India but are actually from international sources.

These were allegedly associated with cybercrime activities such as fake digital arrests and impersonation scams. The government has issued directives to telecom providers to ensure these calls are blocked, she said.