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Laws and Legal Procedure to Report Online Cheating and Fraud: Lawyers Advice

Best and Experienced Lawyers online in India > Anticipatory Bail & Regular Bail  > Laws and Legal Procedure to Report Online Cheating and Fraud: Lawyers Advice

Laws and Legal Procedure to Report Online Cheating and Fraud: Lawyers Advice

With the advancement of technology and widespread use of the internet, more so ever, today, one of the most prevalent crimes, Cyber Crime, has crept into our society. Due to the WFH culture, there has been a massive increase of these cases in our country. Hence, this article deals with the laws and legal procedures to report this crime.
Although the term cyber crime has no legal definition, the Ministry of Ministry of Home Affairs/National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, defined cyber crime as “Any unlawful act where a computer or a communication device or a computer network is utilised to commit or facilitate the commission of crime”.

There are various types of cybercrimes present today –
• While specifically looking into the aspect of online cheating and fraud, many criminals use viruses, trojans and worms.
• For crimes related to finance and money laundering, criminals use means such as online auctions or job offers to gain money illegally.
• Another method is phishing, whereby through bogus websites they acquire sensitive information such as credit card details and passwords of the victims.

Most of the cyber crimes are governed under the Information Technology (IT) Act of 2000, which was amended again in 2008. However, the Indian Penal Code, 1860, covers the ambit of the crime as well, leading to a lack of clarity in some cases. For example, offences such as hacking and data theft are provided under Sections 43 and 66 of the Information Technology Act, and Sections 378 (Theft), 424 (Dishonest and fraudulent concealment) and 425 (Mischief) of the Indian Penal Code as well. Additions to the Information Technology Act, 2008 include Section 66C (Protection against identity theft) and Section 66D (Cheating by impersonating online).
• While adjudicating with the conflict of the Information Technology Act and Indian Penal Code in numerous cases, the Supreme Court, in the Sharat Babu Digumarti v. Govt. of NCT Delhi ([2016] INSC 883) case held that, “No individual may be charged under the IPC for an offence arising out of certain acts or omissions if the IT Act could also be applied to the equivalent acts or omissions.”
• In another landmark cyber crime judgement, in the case of Shreya Singhal v. Union of India ([2015] INSC 251) the Hon’ble Supreme Court declared Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 as unconstitutional. The court also upheld the power of interception, as under Section 69A of the Act along with Section 79, pertaining to intermediately liability. This judgement once again, emphasised the principle that any provision of law, whether in the virtual world or real world, has to be in compliance with the Indian Constitution.

Other relevant legislations that deal with cyber crimes in various sectors in India include, the Anti Money Laundering Act, 2002. One of the main aims of this Act was to provide for confiscation of property, derived from, or involved in money laundering. Ever since the passing of the Information Technology Act, banks are now mandated to maintain a proper system for electronic records. The e-Records Maintenance Policy of banks serves as a model for this purpose.
• In the landmark case of NASSCOM v. Ajay Sood (119 (2005) DLT 596, 2005 (30) PTC 437 Del), the Hon’ble Delhi High Court took it upon itself and held “phishing” to be an illegal act, even though there was no legislation in India which did the same. In order to set a precedent in our country, the Court elaborated on this concept in their judgement.
• Another well-known case relating to the same is that of ICICI Bank v. Umashankar Sivasubramanian and Ors. (Cyber Appeal No. 1 of 2010). The bank had been held liable in this case of phishing due to their failure to show they had taken adequate precautions and secured their email system against misuse. While phishing frauds have been common, this ruling where the bank is made to accept the liabilities sets a good precedent in our country.

Procedure to Report Cyber Crimes in India –
• The procedure to report a cyber crime is similar to reporting any other offence. In India, cyber crime cells, as established by the crime investigation team are present in almost every city. The victim is required to file a written complaint with the crime cell, providing their name, contact details and mailing address.
• According to the Information Technology Act, cyber crime comes under the purview of global jurisdiction. Hence, the complaint can be registered with any of the cyber cells in India, regardless of where the victim is currently residing, or the place it had been originally committed in.
• If the victim cannot get access to any of the cyber cells in India, they can file a FIR in their local police station as well. The victim can also approach the Commissioner or the city’s Judicial Magistrate, if their complaint is not accepted.
• Cyber crime complaints can be filled online as well. The online portal, https://cybercrime.gov.in/Accept.aspx, was an initiative by the Government of India, and deals with multifarious areas of crime, such as financial frauds, hacking etc. After visiting the website, the victim needs to click on the “Report other crimes” option on the menu. The victim then needs to click on “File a complaint”, read the conditions provided and accept then. After filling the relevant details required, such as name of the victim and State, the victim needs to fill in the details about the relevant offence as well. This report can also be filed anonymously.
• Remedies for crimes pertaining to hacking, financial frauds and virus attacks, are covered under Sections 43-45 of the Information Technology Act. Victims of this crime are required to file an application under the adjudicating officer. Currently, the ad-hoc system of the secretary of the IT Ministry acting as the above-mentioned authority continues. While this remedy has been availed by numerous victims of financial fraud, the fact that the jurisdiction of this authority far exceeds claims against banks seems to be overlooked.

To conclude, a few suggestions to keep in mind which are –

  1. The knowledge about the policies present needs to be coupled with training to ensure the police and persons involved understand the implications of cyber crime and act in an expeditious manner.
  2. While our country cannot merely ask its citizens to stop using the internet, measures to increase awareness and protect the users of the internet need to be further looked into, especially in the banking structure. Users of the internet, need to exercise caution and responsibility, as the virtual world requires just as much caution, if not more, than the real world.
  3. With the present WFH culture, business and corporations need to look into awareness of their potential technologies and threats they entail. They should aim not only to protect themselves against the evils of cybercrime, but also implement mechanisms to ensure a quick bounce-back and minimal damage after an attack.

Authored By: Adv. Anant Sharma & Madhulika Iyer

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