Bravery Beyond the Badge: Understanding and Tackling Cyber Crime in a Digitally Addicted World

The "Bravery Beyond the Badge" keynote session by Sri. Pavan N, ACP – CEN, Bangalore, at VULNCON 2025, provided a vital look into the realities of combating cybercrime in our hyper-connected society. ACP Pavan N addressed a crowd of young minds, noting that today's world is truly "digitally addicted," with technology used for everything from setting alarms to booking cabs and messaging friends.

The core message emphasized the critical need for rapid evolution in digital security, drawing a powerful analogy between physical and digital protection.

The Evolution of Security: Why Digital Security Must Catch Up

He highlighted that the security of a physical home evolved over hundreds of years. While the concept of a house may have originated 6,000 to 2,000 years ago, the idea of a door emerged only in the last 200 to 250 years. Regular locks only came into use in the past 100 years, and security grills, now common, appeared only in the past 15 to 20 years.

In stark contrast, our digital era began only in the last 20 to 25 years. This means the security measures for mobile phones and digital transactions are still in an early stage, underscoring the vast amount of work that needs to be done. He noted that those in cybersecurity develop the "locks" while the police promote their use to fight crime.

The Massive Scale of Financial Cyber Crime

Financial losses due to cybercrime are staggering and rapidly increasing.

• In the United States, the financial loss from cybercrime in 2024 has already exceeded $16 billion (according to FBI reports).
• For India, the reported figure last year was around 12,000 crores (as reported by I4C).
• This loss figure is only what has been reported, and it is projected to jump to 25,000 crores this year.
• Crucially, this projected 25,000 crores loss figure is related solely to individuals, not industries or companies.

The major victims of these large-scale financial crimes are people aged 50 plus, especially those who are retired and have substantial funds saved. These individuals are less agile with technology and highly susceptible to scams.

Key Scams Targeting Individuals

ACP Pavan N detailed several prominent and evolving fraud types:

1. Investment Scams and Crypto Fraud

Investment scams target individuals with limited or incomplete knowledge of stock trading. Scammers create high-quality, real-time mirror applications that mimic actual stock market movements (like Nifty and Sensex). They convince victims to invest all their savings in the promise of massive, quick returns, often through discounted IPOs.

Once the victim demands a refund, the scammers ask for more money under the guise of taxes, audit fees, or government fees. Victims often only realize they have been cheated after paying 5 to 10 times their initial investment. Losses in these cases have reached amounts as high as 10 to 12 crores per person.

A key giveaway for an investment scam is the request to transfer investment funds into a regular Savings Bank Account (SBA) or Current Account, instead of the mandatory DMAT account required for genuine stock market investments. He advised against believing in "easy money," stressing that nothing is truly free.

2. Digital Arrests and FedEx Scams

These scams rely on creating extreme fear. Fraudsters impersonate central agencies such as the ED, CBI, Mumbai Police, or Bangalore City Police. They associate the victim with high-profile scamsters and present fake documents, including "Supreme Court arrest warrants," telling the victim they must remain isolated and transfer funds to secure their release.

In one incident in Bangalore City, victims were convinced to shut their doors for 30 to 35 days and transferred money amounting to 4 to 5 crores. The speaker advised that unless a citizen has committed a mistake, they should not fear police officers; if someone calls threatening arrest, the citizen should demand that they come to their address and not threaten virtually.

3. Link Frauds

Criminals use simple methods to find a person's interests (cars, houses, videos) and send personalized malicious links. Clicking these links transfers the victim's phone to the criminal's device, similar to using the Anydesk app, allowing the criminal to siphon money out. The victim essentially installs the "bug" themselves.

4. Matrimony Frauds

This is a highly active age group. Scammers leverage social media and matrimony platforms, often posing as high-earning individuals based abroad (like in the UK, USA, or Canada). They quickly establish contact and then use that trust to introduce a crypto investment link or ask for money. The speaker cited cases where a male victim lost 28 lakhs and a female victim lost 70 lakhs, emphasizing that a genuine partner would not ask for investment money.

Tackling Crime in the Corporate Sector

Cybercrime also targets industries, though specific threats vary.

• Ransomware attacks are relatively low in India compared to developed nations like the USA (only 1-2 cases annually out of 2,000 cases in the North division).
• A major threat is financial fraud via email spoofing. A reputed company in Bangalore lost 2 crores when hackers tracked an order and sent a spoofed email (changing 'I' to 'L' in the email address, lowercase), instructing the financial team to transfer money to a different account.
• Money in these corporate scams is often transferred abroad (e.g., to the UK or the Seychelles). Criminals utilize VPNs to hide their location and burner emails to avoid detection, posing serious investigative challenges.

The Critical Role of Citizens and Enforcement Challenges

Financial crimes account for 77% of today's cyber crimes.

Immediate Action: The 1930 Lifeline

The most crucial step for victims of financial cybercrime is to call the national helpline 1930. This 24/7 call center, coordinated by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the RBI, and the police, enables officers to immediately block the transferred amount if it is still in the account, or to track it to the next account. This action is essential because if a complaint is registered late, the crypto assets are negligible.

Investigation Challenges

Enforcement faces severe challenges, including:

1. Cross-Border Crime: Technology treats the world as a "global village," but data-sharing rules vary across borders. Obtaining data from foreign entities (such as a UK phone company) can take up to 6 months, a long time for cybercriminals to vanish.
2. Privacy: The concept of privacy is a double-edged sword, enabling criminals to use VPNs for nefarious purposes.
3. Technological Bottlenecks: Platforms like Telegram and WhatsApp sometimes do not share or record information, particularly regarding features such as one-time viewing messages, creating hurdles for investigators.
4. Organized Crime: Highly organized "cyber compounds" and "cities" (such as Shoko in Myanmar, built entirely through proceeds of cyber crime) exist, requiring international cooperation (such as through Bharatpool linked to Interpol and CBI) to combat.

In conclusion, ACP Sri. Pavan N reassured the audience that the police serve as the "eyes and ears," meant only to receive information and protect citizens. Citizens should not resort to being the "hands and mouth" (taking action/retaliating). In any emergency, the national number 112 should be contacted, which guarantees a response within 7 minutes in Bangalore City.