Government sets up Committee to tackle Southeast Asian Cybercrimes

May 24, 2024

On May 16, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) set up an inter-ministerial committee in reaction to a big rise in transnational organized cybercrime coming from Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos Philippines. There have been a lot of victims and financial loses in India because of the rise in cybercrime.

Committee Composition and Purpose

The special secretary (internal security) of the MHA leads the powerful committee, which has people from the Reserve Bank of India, the Department of Financial Services, banks, the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Department of Telecommunication, and financial technology companies as members. The committee’s job is to come up with long-term plans to fight these cybercrimes and limit their impact.

Cybercrime Trends and Impact

About 45 percent of cyber-financial frauds in India come from places in Southeast Asia. These crimes have become more complicated and bigger, which costs the victims a lot of money. New numbers show that these cybercrimes have cost the economy more than Rs 7,061.51 crore. The government has been able to recover about 12 percent of the money that was lost.

Preventive Measures and Progress

Because of these changes, the I4C has taken many steps to damage the infrastructure that hackers use. Actions include keeping an eye on and stopping things like Skype accounts, Google and Meta ads, SMS headers, and bank accounts used to launder money that are called “mule” accounts. In the past few months, a lot of progress has been made. For example, thousands of URLs, mobile apps, SIM cards, and IMEI numbers have been blocked. Together with other government agencies, the I4C is always working to improve its skills so it can deal with these advanced cyber dangers.

Emerging Patterns and Government Warnings

The investigation showed that cybercriminals trick people into giving them money by offering investment chances, games, dating apps, and fake trading platforms. Notably, Indian teens and young adults have been tricked into going to Cambodia to find work, only to be forced to commit cybercrimes there. Indian citizens who were protesting in a Cambodian city were arrested, and steps were taken to send them back home and keep them safe.

Government Advisory

Through different spokespersons, including the CEO of I4C, the government has warned the public to be wary of misleading job ads and not to fall for schemes that promise big returns in a short amount of time. More is being done to teach people about the dangers of misusing technology and the bad things that can happen if they fall for one of these schemes. To sum up, the Indian government is working hard to protect its people from the growing threats made by cybercriminal groups based in South East Asia by implementing strong measures and working with other countries.

More About Cybercrime prevention measures

Multi-factor authentication makes security much better by needing more than one way to prove your identity.
Keeping software up to date fixes security holes.
Strong passwords that are different for each account keep a single hack from letting a lot of people in.
Malware dangers can be found and stopped by antivirus software.
Strong security, like WPA3, keeps people who aren’t supposed to be there from getting into your Wi-Fi.
Learning about phishing helps people spot and avoid fake emails.
Using VPNs protects private data by encrypting data transfers.
Firewalls keep an eye on and manage all network data, both coming in and going out.
Backing up your info makes sure that you can get it back after you lose it.
Attacks can’t get into as many places when services that aren’t being used are turned off.

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