India has intensified efforts to curb crypto-related scams by collaborating with tech giants Google and Meta (formerly Facebook), according to the Ministry of Home Affairs’ 2024 annual report.
It aims to fight the increasing threat of “pig butchering”’Scams’ is a crypto-investment fraud which targets groups at risk, such as young unemployed people, housewives and students.
The rise of Pig Butchering
In the report, it was described that these scams are typically spread through search engines and social media sites by promising high returns. This scheme has grown in popularity in the last few months. In 2024, investors will lose over $3.6 billion due to this scam.
The scammers will often impersonate financial advisors, or even representatives of legitimate firms of investment. They build trust slowly before convincing the victims to invest large sums in their fraudulent schemes.
The Ministry highlighted that fraudsters misuse Google’s advertisement services and Meta’s sponsored ads to launch malicious applications and phishing campaigns.
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, or I4C, has developed protocols for working directly with these platforms in order to identify suspicious activity, block advertisements, and remove fraudulent content faster.
Measures of collaboration
I4C monitors Android malware, including banking apps that target vulnerable Android users. Google is able to quickly remove and suspend accounts after the Center shares its list of phishing advertisements. Meta also plays an important role in dismantling illegal lending applications and scam-related websites flagged up by I4C.
Google Pay was integrated in the Citizen Financial Cyber Frauds Reporting and Management System CFCFRMS as a major step towards protecting users. This integration allows for the real-time interception of fraudulent transactions. It also allows authorities to locate and freeze assets.
In the report it was noted that over 16 billion Indian Rupees were saved and more than 575, 000 victims received relief in just 2023. In order to support this effort, the Ministry prioritized training law enforcement on blockchain analyses, which will allow them to track illicit crypto-transactions and seize digital asset involved in scams.
Other Efforts
To improve investigative abilities, training programs have been implemented nationwide on crypto-tracing and forensic analysis. National Cybercrime Reporting Portal continues to be a valuable platform that citizens can use to report scams involving cryptography, leading to quicker resolution of cases.
In addition, the National Counter Ransomware Task Force has been established by the Ministry to work closely with banks, crypto exchanges, payment platforms and financial institutions in order mitigate cyber-threats of a large scale.
The report also highlighted India’s active participation in international efforts, including collaboration with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), to strengthen global standards for combating money laundering and terrorism financing involving cryptocurrencies. The international collaboration aims at addressing the transnational nature crypto-related crime.
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