The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has blocked about 140,000 mobile phones that were used for cybercrimes or financial frauds or were linked to disrupted mobile connections, the finance ministry said in a statement after meeting representatives of 12 stakeholders on the issue of rising online financial issues Fraud on Friday.

Since April 2023, about 308,000 SIMs, 50,000 IMEIs, 592 fake links and APKs, and 2,194 URLs have been blocked, the statement said. IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) is unique to a cell phone and blocking it means the device cannot connect to cellular services. APK is an Android application package, an application file type that allows users to sideload apps without having to download them from the Google Play Store.

Using the Indian Cyber ​​Crime Coordination Center (I4C) Pratibimb portal, law enforcement agencies have also arrested more than 500 people involved in online financial fraud. Pratibimb, developed by I4C and Jharkhand Police and launched in November 2023, records cybercriminals' live locations on maps, retrieved from their SIM cards. This allows law enforcement to track the physical movements of criminals, including across state borders. During the pilot of the portal in December 2023, 454 criminals were nabbed in Jharkhand, I4C CEO Rajesh Kumar had said in January.

At the meeting chaired by Financial Services Minister Dr. as prescribed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

At the meeting, officials discussed how to create a standard procedure for returning funds from fraudulent accounts to victims. They also discussed the need to onboard banks and financial institutions through API integration into the Citizen Financial Cyber ​​Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS) platform and the need to integrate this platform into the I4C's National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP). to enable better cooperation between banks, financial institutions and the police.

The meeting was attended by stakeholders including senior officials from Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Department of Finance (DoR), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Department of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Department of Telecommunications (DoT). , Reserve Bank of India (RBI), TRAI, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), I4C, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and State Bank of India (SBI).