45% of the Cyber-Crimes reported in 2018 are from UP & Karnataka
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 21, 2020
The number of reported cyber-crimes increased by more than 25% in 2018. 45% of these  were from UP & Karnataka.
NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau)has been publishing the data related to Cyber Crimes in its CII (Crimes inIndia) report since 2002. Cyber Crimes are one of the morerecent categories of crime and there exists an ambiguity in terms of reporting,recording, investigation and disposing of cybercrime cases.
The Information Technology Act- 2000, lays down the provisions regardingcybercrimes and the penalties there off. An amendment was made in 2008, with a specialfocus on Information Security.
However, not all cybercrimes arecovered under IT Act, with crimes related to forgery, threat, misappropriationetc have provisions under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Since the inclusion of data relatingto Cyber Crime in 2002, changes were made, and new heads were added to the NCRBreports. With NCRB CII report -2018 released recently, we take a lookat the numbers relating to Cyber Crimes.
Total number of Cyber-Crimes
recorded increased in 2018
2017 recorded a sharp increase inthe number of reported cyber-crimes compared to the previous years. Addition ofnew heads like Cyber stalking, Cyber black mailing, dissemination of fake newsetc were few of the new heads added in 2017.
Compared to 2017, the number ofcyber-crimes has further increased in 2018. While a total of 21,796 crimes wererecorded under both IPC and IT Act in 2017, the number has increased to 27,248in 2018.
Uttar Pradesh reports the highest
number of cyber-crimes while Karnataka has the highest rate of crime
Among the states, Uttar Pradesh reports the highestnumber of cyber-crimes with 6,280 in 2018. Karnataka, which  nearly had a 3-fold increase in the number ofcyber-crimes reported in 2017 with 3174 cases also recorded a significantincrease in 2018. Karnataka reported  5,839cyber-crimes in 2018, next only to Uttar Pradesh. The 2 positionwas occupied by Maharashtra in 2017.
The number of cyber-crimes recordedin Maharashtra reduced in 2018, with 3511 cases compared to 3604 recorded in2017.  Assam has also seen a significant increasein the number of cyber-crimes with 2022 cases in 2018 compared to 1120 in 2017.
The two Telugu speaking states ofAndhra Pradesh (1207) and Telangana(1205) along with Rajasthan(1104) are amongthe other states which have recorded a high number of cyber-crime cases.
Karnataka has the highest
Cyber-Crime Rate
Karnataka has significantly higherrate of Cyber-crimes with 8.9 cyber-crimes per 1 lakh population, compared toother states. Among the other states, Assam comes next with a cyber-crime rate of5.9 followed by Telangana (3.3).
Maharashtra, UP, Jharkhand,Meghalaya and AP are the other states which have cyber-crime rate higher thanIndia’s national average cyber-crime rate of 2.1.
Although the UT of Lakshadweep hasonly 4 cyber-crimes recorded, the rate is a high (6) due to relatively lowerpopulation of 0.7 lakhs.
Most of the Cyber Crimes in 2018
relate to Identity Theft & distribution of sexually explicit content.
Among the 27,248 cyber-crime casesrecorded in 2018, a major portion i.e. 18,495 cases were registered under ITAct. Of the remaining cases 8,647 cases were registered under different IPCsections while 106 cases were booked under SLL (Special and Local Laws).
Out of the total cases booked underIT act, most of the cases are ‘Computer related offences’ with a totalof 14,141 cases in this category in 2018.
Out of the 3,969 cases of ‘Computer
related offences under Section 66’, 3219 i.e. 81% of the cases are in UttarPradesh.  Furthermore, Section 66C whichrelates to ‘Identify Theft’ forms a major portion of Computer relatedoffences with 6688 cases. Significantly, 76.5% i.e. 5517 cases are registeredin Karnataka alone.
Among other Computer related crimes,Section 66D i.e. ‘Cheating by Personation by using computer resources’ also has a significant number in 2018 with 2704 cases. A total of 3076 caseswere booked in 2018 under Section 67 of IT Act i.e. ‘Publication/
transmission of obscene / sexually explicit act in electronic form’. UP(738)and Assam (644) have a higher proportion of cases booked under this section.
21 cases were booked in 2018 undersection 66 F of IT Act which related to ‘Cyber Terrorism’. Of these 11 were inTamil Nadu and 8 in Assam.
Cheating, Fraud, Cyber Stalking form
a majority of cyber-crimes booked under IPC
39% of the cases booked undervarious section of IPC related to ‘Fraud(under section 420, 465, 468-471)’ i.e. 3,353 cases across all the states and UTs.
Of these, a major portion arerelated to ATM related frauds with 1284 cases. Bihar, Maharashtra and Odishaare among the states with the highest number of ATM related frauds.
Nearly 1/3 of the 968cases related to ‘Online Banking Frauds’ are registered in Maharashtra. Odisha,Telangana and UP also have significant number of cases relating to OnlineBanking Frauds. Maharashtra with 143 cases also has a significant share of thetotal Credit Card/Debit Card related crimes.
2051 cyber-crime cases are bookedunder Section 420 i.e. ‘Cheating’. Even under this section, Maharashtrahas the highest number of cases with 878, significantly higher than that ofsecond placed Andhra Pradesh which has 251 cases.
The number of casesbooked for Section 505 of IPC i.e. ‘Fake News on Social Media’, isless than that of 2017. 97 cases for Fake News were registered in 2018, whileit was 170 in 2017.
Fraud and Sexual Exploitation are
identified to be the major motives
55% of the cyber cases booked in2018, have ‘Fraud’ as the motive. Out of the total 15,051 cases with motive as ‘Fraud’,more than 1/3  are inKarnataka with 5,441 cases, followed by UP (2,351) and Maharashtra (1,988).
2,030 cases have ‘SexualExploitation’ as motive. The number has increased substantially from 1,460cases recorded in 2017. As was the case in 2017, the highest number of caseswith ‘Sexual Exploitation’ as motive were registered in Maharashtra in 2018 as wellwith 724 cases.
While the number of cases has comedown in Assam, UP has contributed to the increase in 2018.
‘Causing Disrepute’ and ‘Extortion’continue to be other prime motives even in 2018 with 1,212 and 1050 casesrespectfully. 44 of the cyber cases booked have ‘Terrorist activities’ asmotive, while 296 were pranks and 218 had political motive.
Increase in number of cases can be
attributed to increased awareness and better reporting
The cyber-crimes as per NCRB reportsis based on the crimes which have been reported and have been taken intocognizance by the law enforcement agencies. One of the major handicaps in reportinga cyber-crime in India has been the lack of awareness among the general public.Lack of a clear process along with lack of resources with the law enforcementagencies in dealing with these crimes add to the problem.
Significant increase in the numberof reported cyber-crimes can be attributed to increase in the crimes relatingto fraud, identity theft, online cheating etc, which could point to increasedawareness to report a crime. Currently there is no conclusive data to indicateabsolute increase in number of frauds or other related crimes committed apartfrom the increase in the cases being reported.
While reporting of a cyber-crime is one part of the story, the action taken by authorities is equally important. Comparing the increase in cyber-crimes reporting with trends in the disposal of cases by police and courts would offer a comprehensive perspective. The analysis of the disposal of these cases will be dealt in the next story.
Featured Image: Cyber-Crimes in India