On November 3, the top court said it needs to deal with digital arrest cases with an iron hand, while expressing shock over the scale of such cybercrime cases in the country, with over Rs 3,000 crore allegedly extorted from victims, including senior citizens.
New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to carry out a unified pan-India probe into digital arrest scam cases and asked the RBI as to why it was not using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to find out and freeze bank accounts used by cyber criminals.
Digital arrest is a growing form of cybercrime in which fraudsters pose as law enforcement, court officials or personnel from government agencies to intimidate victims through audio and video calls. They hold the victims hostage and put pressure on them to pay money.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked the states, including opposition-ruled West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana, to accord consent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act for probing digital arrest cases in their jurisdiction.
It issued notice to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and sought its response as to why AI or machine learning technology was not employed to identify mule accounts and freeze those which are used in cyber fraud cases.
The top court, which passed the directions in a suo motu case registered on the complaint of an elderly couple from Haryana, noted that mostly senior citizens were targeted and their hard-earned money was extorted by the cyber criminals.
“The gravity and enormity of crimes can very well be judged by the fact that senior citizens were mostly targeted by the fraudsters by adopting different devices to dupe them,” the bench said.
It directed information technology (IT) intermediaries to provide details and cooperation to the CBI in probes related to digital arrest cases.
The bench also directed the CBI to seek assistance from Interpol to reach cyber criminals operating from offshore tax haven countries.
It asked the department of telecom to ensure that telecom service providers do not provide multiple SIM cards to one user or entity, which may be used in cyber crimes.
“The department of telecom to submit a proposal for the consideration of this court which can be enforced by the telecom service providers to deter multiple SIM cards in one name or entity,” the bench said.
To ensure better coordination with the CBI, the bench asked all states and Union territories (UTs) to set up a regional and state cybercrime coordination centre to deal with such online offences.
It asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to ensure that the views of various Union ministries, including ministry of home affairs, department of telecom, ministry of finance and ministry of electronics and information technology, are put before it to deal with cybercrimes cases.
The top court said all states and UTs and their police agencies along with the CBI are free to freeze bank accounts used in defrauding citizens.
At the outset, the bench directed the CBI to probe bank officials who are hand-in-glove and who help in operating mule accounts with the fraudsters in duping citizens, and register cases against them under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
A mule account is a bank account also known by some other names used by cybercriminals to receive and transfer illicit funds, making it harder to trace the source of the money for the probe agencies.
The bench said amicus curiae advocate N S Nappinai has, after preliminary analysis, flagged broadly three types of cybercrimes — digital arrests, investment scams and part-time job scams — which are most prevalent in the country.
While explaining the nature of these three cyber crimes, the bench said that there can be no second opinion that every such crime needs to be investigated but digital arrest cases require immediate attention. The other two categories — of investment and part-time job scams — can be taken in the second and third phases, it added.
The top court directed the CBI to induct any officer from states and technical experts and associate them as members of the probe team on digital arrest cases.
On November 3, the top court said it needs to deal with digital arrest cases with an iron hand, while expressing shock over the scale of such cybercrime cases in the country, with over Rs 3,000 crore allegedly extorted from victims, including senior citizens.
It went through two sealed cover reports submitted by the ministry of home affairs and the CBI.
On October 27, the top court said it is inclined to entrust the CBI with the probe into digital arrest cases after taking into consideration the magnitude and pan-India spread of such crimes.
It sought details of FIRs registered in different states and UTs. The top court said it would monitor the progress of the CBI investigation and issue whatever directions were necessary to deal with these crimes.
On October 17, taking note of the rising incidents of online fraud in the country, especially digital arrests to dupe citizens by fabricating judicial orders, the top court sought responses from the Centre and the CBI, saying such offences strike at the “very foundation” of public trust in the system.
The apex court flagged the rising number of digital arrest cases across the country and said forging apex court, high court orders and signatures of judges to digitally arrest innocent people, including senior citizens, strikes at the bottom of trust and faith of people in judicial institutions.
It said forgery of documents and criminal misuse of the name, seal and judicial orders of this court or high court is a matter of grave concern, and such criminal acts cannot be treated as an ordinary or solitary offence of cheating or cyber crime.