Cybercrime in India | Parliamentary finance committee taking steps to check fraud

They have tried to draw the attention of Parliamentarians to the overuse of one-time passwords (OTPs) and how they have led to an increase in phishing scams across the country.

They have explained how users become liable, the responsibility for the crime, and the burden of the entire fraud falls on the user who has given the OTP, but financial institutions remain immune. At the same time, there are loopholes or gaps in the system when it comes to collaboration between transaction-processing institutions and telecom service providers.

Even the law enforcement response is inadequate because of the lack of availability of the right infrastructure.

Often, the criminal justice system is challenged in the cybercrime and cyberspace due to a lack of understanding of cyber issues among police forces, and law enforcement officials.

At the same time, there are issues and differences related to evidence collection, examination, presentation in court, non-uniformity of procedures, and differences in capabilities of enforcement bodies across the country and across jurisdictions as well.

Often victims struggle to find support and the system support in cybercrime cases is quite weak. There is a lack of capacity in the system. Talent recruitment and retention — when it comes to the cybercrime, and criminal justice system — is not adequate and needs urgent attention.

They have also said that inadequate attention is paid to architectural and technological thinking to reduce the burden on users who have to take decisions while doing financial transactions.