New Delhi | In a bid to crack down on the rising menace of "digital arrests", the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has informed the Supreme Court that it has constituted a high-level inter-departmental committee (IDC) to eliminate systemic gaps and ensure real-time protection for cybercrime victims.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant on December 16, 2025 ordered inter-departmental ministerial consultations under the guidance of Attorney General R Venkataramani on the issue and apprised it of the outcome.
The bench further directed that the recommendations made by the Amicus Curiae should also be considered by the concerned quarters alongside the directions already issued on December 1 last year.
The status report filed by the MHA on January 12 detailed a multi-agency offensive involving the CBI, RBI, Telecom Department and top IT ministries to dismantle transnational syndicates using forged documents and "digital arrest" tactics to siphon funds from innocent citizens.
Acting on the directions of the bench, the report said the CBI has officially taken over the investigation into a high-profile fraud case of Delhi where the victim, a 76-year-old widowed pensioner, was allegedly duped of Rs 1.64 crore through a "digital arrest" scam where she was threatened by impersonators using fake documents.
The CBI informed the court that these scams are often perpetrated by "organised and transnational cybercrime syndicates" and that the agency is now utilising INTERPOL channels to dismantle international modules. The MHA has established an IDC under the chairmanship of the special secretary (internal security).
The panel includes joint secretary-level officers from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre.
It said the committee is mandated to identify legislative gaps, suggest corrective measures and ensure "time-bound compliance" across the banking and telecom sectors.
The DoT reported significant progress in curbing "spoofed" calls (calls from foreign locations appearing as Indian numbers), it said.
Through the newly introduced Central International Out Roamer (CIOR) mechanism, the government successfully blocked approximately 1.35 crore spoofed calls in October 2024 alone, bringing the current volume down to roughly 1.5 lakh calls.
Furthermore, it said the DoT is finalising rules under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, to address negligent issuance of SIM cards by point-of-sale (PoS) agents and enforcement of the 9-SIM-per-person cap and the regulation of 'SIM Boxes' used by fraudsters.
The RBI informed the IDC that 23 banks have already implemented "MuleHunter AI", a specialised tool to detect "mule accounts" used by criminals to launder stolen money.
The panel also discussed key banking reforms like mandatory "cooling-off" periods and a delay mechanism for suspicious transactions to preserve the "golden hour" for law enforcement.
It also referred to proactive freezing of the defrauded amount by using Section 12AA of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) before funds are moved.
It also discussed putting in place standard operating procedures (SOPs) for ensuring uniform guidelines for banks to identify and close dormant accounts.
The court-appointed amicus curiae, senior advocate N S Nappinai, has proposed a landmark shift in victim relief and suggested that releasing frozen proceeds to victims based on portal complaints and indemnity bonds, without mandating a formal FIR registration in all cases.
The amicus also suggests that platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram limit the duration of video calls from unknown numbers to prevent prolonged coercion.
The government has requested a one-month extension from the Supreme Court to consolidate inputs from all stakeholders.
The committee's next focus will be on strengthening the "Adjudication Mechanism" under Section 46 of the IT Act and finalising a national online portal for cybercrime adjudication.
"In view of the foregoing facts and circumstances, it is most respectfully prayed that this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to grant a period of at least one month to enable the respondents to obtain inputs from the remaining members of the Inter-Departmental Committee and to undertake further 4 deliberations thereon, so as to place a consolidated and considered outcome before this Hon’ble Court," the MHA said in its status report.
New Delhi | The use of Artificial Intelligence in tackling mule accounts, which form a key element in facilitating laundering of illicit funds stolen through cyber crimes, will be one of the focus areas of the two-day conference organised by the CBI and the Union Home Ministry's Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) beginning Tuesday, officials said.
The CBI and I4C have organised a two-day conference titled "Tackling Cyber-Enabled Frauds & Dismantling the Ecosystem" from Tuesday to develop a coordinated strategy to dismantle the infrastructure behind organised cyber crimes.
The agency will also unveil its new cyber crime branch, inaugurated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who will also inaugurate the conference and the S4C Dashboard of I4C, MHA.
The two-day conference will feature detailed sessions on the three pillars of the framework to counter cyber fraud: financial systems, telecommunications infrastructure, and human exploitation, which form the backbone of organised cyber crime gangs.
"The conference is being convened at a time when, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India's rapid digital transformation has significantly improved access to banking, governance, and communication, while simultaneously creating new vulnerabilities that are being exploited by organised cybercriminal networks," a government statement said.
Senior officers from the CBI, Interpol, the Enforcement Directorate, I4C and other agencies, cyber security experts, and lawyers will discuss addressing the rising magnitude of transnational cyber crime, including the role of "Artificial Intelligence" in laundering proceeds through mule account networks and the misuse of eSIM and VoIP technologies to facilitate anonymity in fraud operations.
Officials and experts from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Department of Financial Services (DFS), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks, FinTech Companies and Payment Platforms, Telecom Service Providers, Social Media and Cloud Service Intermediaries will also be part of the conference.
The conference will also highlight the "cyber slavery" pillar, exposing the recruitment of individuals into forced scam compounds, and will explore international cooperation through Interpol and the UN Cybercrime Convention.
The officials shall discuss national-level trends in cyber crime, ponder the scale and complexity of cyber frauds, and examine systemic vulnerabilities in telecom infrastructure, the misuse of SIMs, eSIMs, VoIP systems, and SIM boxes in OTP interception, and cross-border fraud, among others.
The sessions aim to establish actionable priorities for law enforcement, focusing on state-level investigation models and enhanced coordination with social media intermediaries to curb future trafficking and financial crimes, officials said.
The scam compounds operating as organised criminal infrastructure, cyber slavery, where victims are lured in the name of lucrative job offers and forced into committing cyber crimes, the use of formal legal instruments like the UN Cybercrime Convention and MLAT frameworks shall also be deliberated upon during the conference.
"The CBI has been investigating cyber crime since 2000 and has upgraded its capabilities by establishing the Cybercrime Investigation Division in 2022. It serves as the nodal agency for investigating cyber crime affecting the Central Government and its offices, handling both cyber-dependent crimes and cyber-enabled frauds," the statement said.
The deliberations will also focus on strengthening inter-agency and public-private collaboration among law enforcement, banks, telecom providers, regulators, and technology platforms, besides exploring the use of Artificial Intelligence and data analytics to scale investigations with limited manpower; improve mechanisms for faster fraud reporting, real-time fund tracing, timely evidence preservation, and better victim protection.
The conference seeks to drive a unified strategy to combat cyber-enabled fraud by strengthening prevention, investigation, technology adoption, inter-agency coordination, and victim-centric frameworks.
