Thiruvananthapuram:Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday said the police were taking strong action against financial fraud in cyberspace by blocking nearly 2,000 illegal loan apps and more than 5,000 fake websites.
Chennithala said the government was taking the issue seriously and was formulating a comprehensive project in line with changing times to tackle and prevent cybercrime.
The minister was responding to a submission by Congress MLA Abin Varkey in the Assembly, who said cybercrimes and online fraud were on the rise in Kerala, which ranked third in the country in such offences.
He said there were more than 42,000 victims of cybercrime in the state last year, resulting in losses exceeding ₹814 crore, nearly half of which was lost through online trading apps.
He said online financial frauds were being committed under the guise of collecting payments for traffic challans and utility bills, and sought stringent action from the government against such crimes.
Responding to the submission, Chennithala conceded that cybercrime was widespread in the state, with more than 1,000 cases reported from each district.
At the same time, he said the Kerala Police were taking stringent action by registering cases under Section 66D of the Information Technology Act and Section 318 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita based on complaints received from victims.
Additionally, fake websites and unauthorised loan apps used for cyber fraud were being blocked, he said.
The minister said internet access to 1,836 loan apps that were operating illegally without approval from the Reserve Bank of India had been blocked, and more than 5,000 websites used for financial fraud had been removed from cyberspace by the police.
He added that cyber patrolling was also being carried out.
Chennithala said online gaming was also being used to facilitate financial fraud and that children often fell prey to such activities.
He said stringent measures were being taken to prevent this, including conducting awareness programmes in schools and other educational institutions to educate children about the harmful effects of online gaming.
