Safety from growing cyber gaming frauds!

By M.Y.Siddiqui

Growing cyber gaming frauds have prompted cyber wing
of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to advise people to
exercise caution when engaging in online gaming. The Indian
Cybercrime Coordination Centre (14C) of the MHA’s cautionary
message says, “Play Smart, Play Safe, Stay Secure while gaming
online”. The 14C wing has urged the people to download online apps
only from authentic sources like Google Play Store, Apple Store and
Official Websites. The 14C’s advice exhorts the people to “always
check game app publishers to ensure website legitimacy. The
warning calls upon the people to never fall in the trap of game in-app
purchases and lucrative subscription offers.

People are warned not to share personal information in
chats or forums, as scammers can use social media tactics to
manipulate players. People should allow only relevant and necessary
permissions while downloading app. In case of online fraud, the 14C
suggests the victims should dial 1930, the cybercrime helpline
number. The Government of India in the Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology blocked 581 such apps till December 15,
2023 and out of these, there were 174 betting and gambling apps and
87 loan lending apps. These apps were blocked under Section 69A of
the Information Technology Act 2000 as amended to date. Banned
apps included PUBG, Garena Free Fire.

In July 2023, the union government amended IGST Act,
2017 (The Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017) making
registration of offshore gaming companies mandatory in India. The
Act also gave the Central Government the power to block websites
that are not registered and are violative of laws. The betting
platforms, notorious for collecting UPI payments through proxy bank
accounts and the amount accumulated in the proxy accounts are
being remitted through hawala, crypto and other illegal routes. Apart
from Mahadev, some of the apps banned are Parimatch, Fairplay,
IXBET, Lotus365, Dafabet and Betwaysatta. Many such apps are on
the banned list and some others are operating covertly illegally in
India. Recently, the MHA banned/blocked over 500 Internet based
apps on the recommendations of 14C. Government has now prepared

an analytical report on the modus operandi of major cyber attacks in
the country.

Union government in the MHA has taken several initiatives
for cyber security. In the coming days, about 70 percent of the
criminal justice system including prisons and courts will be online.
More than 20 lakhs (2 million) cybercrime complaints have been
registered on the portal: cybercrime.gov.in based on which more
than 40,000 FIRs have been registered. Simultaneously, 13 crore
(130 million) hits were registered since the launch of this portal in
January 2020. According to a report of the 14C wing, on an average,
more than 5000 cybercrime complaints are registered daily across
the country. The report mentioned the growth of 113.7 percent
cybercrime complaints from 2021 to 2022, and 60.9 percent from
2022 to 2023.

There has been a phenomenal rise in complaints reported
on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP). Cybercrimes
reported increase from 26,049 in 2019 to 2,57,777 in 2020, from
4,32,414 in 2021 to 9,66,796 in 2022 and to 15,56,176 in 2023,
according to the latest available official information. The ever-rising
cybercrimes are akin to the fast growing drug addictions all over the
country. It has ruined many lives. Checking such crimes has become a
very daunting task given the penchant for wide scale rampant
corruptions in the ranks and files of law enforcement agencies both
in the central and state governments. And there is no one to address
such malaise effectively and surely as it suits every body in the
system. There is a collusive culture where everyone in the
governance is honest and no one corrupt!

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