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| Bank Frauds through Cyber Crimes | | Laxity of Banks and Cyber Police --- Situation Alarming |
By Er. P. L. Khushu
Digitalization and its proactive approach like linking of credit / debit cards with one’s bank accounts thorough the mobile phones to ensure hassle free payments as per the financial policies of the government of the day, is now proving disastrous and suicidal for the public at large. Though it is widely being claimed that it is a big achievement of the government in many respects, yet, while it might be so, it is ultimately proving to be a cage of sorrows for almost all who are linked to the banking systems for payments and deposits with it. The reasons are simple. Neither the banks are possessing a fool proof cyber security system, nor the cyber crime police of the country at the levels of investigations are qualified enough to stop or locate such cyber crime fraudulent drawls from the accounts of different customers across the country. The other most unfortunate side of this tragic situation is that neither the banks nor the cyber crime police force are at all taking such crimes seriously. It is unfortunate to comment that the reputation of both the working of the banks and that of the cyber crime police amongst the masses of this country on this account is very bad. There is a general feeling presently that the cyber crime police does not mostly bother enough to locate and arrest such crimes, when the banks and its working man power is quite lax in this regard.
It is to convey with a heavy heart that cyber crimes through online internet modus operandi, is wantonly on the rise in India, when the much publicized cyber crime police body of this country hardly bother to ensure quick and meaningful investigations with appropriate results like getting back the fraudulently drawn money of various citizens of this country back to them.
As per reports available about cybercrimes occurring in our country, scores of Indians have lost money, amounting to $1.26 billion in financial institutions due to cyber crimes so far. There is a general estimate that about 4,500 fraudulent accounts are being opened and operated every day under the very nose of various bank authorities. According to some information in this regard, even this year, people in India have lost more than 1700 crores due to cyber crimes. Despite there being such stringent punishments, which includes a jail term as well for the fraudsters, there is a vertical growth in Cyber Crimes in India when as per rough estimates, around 27218 cases registered in the year 2018, the number has swelled to around 1.13 million in the year 2023. There seems to be no end to it. It is increasing day by day. The fraudsters are least deterred by the so-called deterrent punishments provided under the IT Act. The reason is simple. These laws are on paper only. There is no deterrent follow up, not on lower levels of cybercrime police only, but at top levels too. No one is bothered about these heinous crimes, which is looting the innocent citizen of this country. The working of the entire net work of cybercrime police body from the grass root level, viz, the concerned cybercrime police station to the last top level officer for this purpose is not only non operative, but non cooperative.
Modus operandi adopted in the investigations is quite lax.
The most enforced modus operandi is that one has to make his or her complaint to the designate portals for it, which is www. Cybercrime.gov.in and cyberpolice.mha.gov.in. Once a complaint is logged about a financial fraud, a message is received by the complainant to make such a complaint with the concerned cyber crime police station for its investigation. It is done almost after two days of the event of the happening of the financial fraud and a loss to the person. By then the looted money is supposed to have been enjoyed to its full joy, by the fraudsters. What is it? Is it a normal crime, which can wait investigation for the comfort of the cybercrime police? Once a fresh complaint is lodged with the concerned cyber crime police station, the fate of the complaint remains hanging in air as no response comes from the said police station nor do the designate police officers or police officials of the police station, ever bother to respond to the calls of the person who lodges such complaints. In this process, the fraudsters easily draw the fraudulently drawn money to their choice and comforts. Are they facilitated to do so? It is a million dollar question.
If the situation continues to be so, the people of this country out of frustration may be forced to conclude that that the cyber crime police involved in such a process of investigations, afford enough time to fraudsters to make hay with the fraudulently drawn money with ease and comfort. There are no checks and balances. It is quite unfortunate that there is no mention of any superior cyber crime police officer to whom a complaint could be lodged for non-performance of the investigation by the local cyber crime police station officers, in the blogs of the cyber crime portals of our country. What a pathos and agony.
Coming to the role of the banks in this regard, the situation is all the more quite grim. The functionaries of the banks, right from the top to bottom, under whose very noses such cyber crimes occur hardly feel bothered or embarrassed for such frauds, when a customer’s money is looted from the pockets of the banks concerned, where one deposits all his hard earned savings for security and safety. It needs to be mentioned that once a person deposits his money in the bank for security, it is supposed to be a trust of that person in the pocket of that bank for its safety and security.
It is the customer as the depositor of his savings with the bank, who sustains the bank and the formation of the bank and its existence. Bank establishments in all respects right from the sky touching salaries of its officers and officials to the last post of the orderly of the bank concerned, are directly related to the gains accruing to the bank through the deposits of its customers. So it is the customers who pay for all such hefty charges of the banks concerned mostly. If there is no depositor as a customer, who puts in his or her hard-earned money with the bank, the bank may not exist at all, when its establishments and functionaries will not enjoy the hefty salaries and perks of royal sorts at the cost of the customers’ deposits at all.
Financial losses of the customers’ deposits, have a long lasting detrimental impact on a bank’s reputation and customer confidence. A recent study conducted by Accenture revealed that 36% of banking customers who were victims of cybercrime lost trust in their bank. Of those customers, 65% claimed they would consider switching to a different financial institution. This highlights the importance of effective cyber security measures for both mitigating financial losses and maintaining customer trust.
One of the most significant impacts of cybercrime in the banking industry is the loss of trust and confidence in financial institutions. Customers rely on banks to protect their personal and financial data, and any breach of that trust can be detrimental to the institution’s reputation. Additionally, the fear of cybercrime can deter potential customers from even using banking services, leading to lost revenue for the industry. Therefore, efforts to combat cybercrime in the banking industry must have the priorities of building and maintaining trust and confidence among customers.
Cybercrime in the banking industry has emerged as a major threat that requires urgent attention from the concerned agencies, particularly the RBI and the Central Vigilance Commission of India. As such, banks must adopt proactive measures to prevent cyber frauds. This includes investment in robust cyber security systems, its working employee training in particular. Preventive measures against cybercrime involve a combination of technical measures and education. Banks must invest in advanced security technologies to detect and prevent cyber-attacks before they can affect the system. Furthermore, recruitments of employees in banks must be of fully qualified and trained incumbents, who know best cyber security practices to avoid phishing scams, malware attacks, and insider threats.
As is known, The Reserve Bank of India, has provided guidelines on Information Security, Electronic Banking, Technology Risk Management and Cyber Frauds (G.Gopalakrishna Committee) vide, Circular DBS.CO.ITC.BC.No.6/31.02.008/2010-11 dated April 29, 2011, where in it was indicated that the measures suggested for implementation cannot be static and banks need to pro-actively create and modify their policies, procedures and technologies, based on new developments and emerging concerns. Are the banks following it? Probably not. Banks are just interested in harnessing deposits without its valid security, thus making the depositors to sustain heavy and irreparable losses.
It makes one to believe that the cyber crime police station officers and the banks concerned give enough time due to their lax approach, to the fraud setters to pocket the fraudulently drawn money, and ignore the complaint of the person who is cheated of heavy money by such financial frauds. It is unfortunate for the nation and its nationals.
Whenever any such willful lax or an indifferent approach in detecting or arresting such a cyber crime of fraudulent drawl in a bank is detected or observed, cognizance of the same needs to be taken against such a lax person of the bank, under Section 120 B of the IPC, as a criminal conspiracy to abet such a crime, thus punishing the person accordingly.
Similarly, for such lax approaches at the level of the investigating cyber crime police personals, a cognizable punishment has to be enforced so that the concerned cyber police personal feels that he or she is not above law and has to act. Better said than done. Who bothers? The administration is dead on this count and the people are being looted, when the fraudsters are making hay while the Sun is shining for them.
(The author of this article stands by every word mentioned in this article as he and his wife have been looted by a huge financial amount of their pension money bank accounts, through cyber crime.Feedback on [email protected])
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