How to fight digital fraud

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s timely words of caution — stop, think, and act to counter it — to avoid “digital arrest”, a financial fraud perpetrated by convincing victims that they must pay up to avoid action by government agencies, apply equally to other forms of digital fraud. While the PM has offered an unbeatable mantra, digital fraud is a multi-layered problem, calling for attention on different fronts.

First, even as many aspects of daily living — from financial transactions to identity authentication, grievance redress to governance services — get digitised, a substantial part of the population is still transitioning to this new world and lacks familiarity with its benefits and risks (a primary risk being digital fraud) and the understanding and capability to maximise the former and minimise the latter. There is a considerable lack of awareness, unease with interfaces, adoption hesitancy, even user fatigue with the need to commit passwords, security questions, and other authentication details to memory. This segment of the population, especially the elderly and the other reluctant digital migrants, is especially vulnerable to fraud.

Second, cybersecurity infrastructure and activation have been unable to keep pace with the reach and penetration of fraudsters. To be sure, the government has put systems in place to combat cybersecurity breaches, including digital financial fraud. The Union government has set up the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to deal with all kinds of cybercrime (defined as crimes committed involving communication devices as the medium/target) in a coordinated manner. A particular focus on the hotspots within the country from where such crimes are committed has also been institutionalised. And these are only two of the several measures taken. However, the irony is that I4C itself has had to notify alerts regarding fraud attempts made in its name.

Third, citizens have been habituated with regards to interface with governance structures, including an expectation of immediate and unquestioning compliance with any requirement to share personal data and markers, some of which may not even be necessary in the context these are being asked for.

Correcting these will require multiple bodies — private and government — to coordinate and make it easier for the public to understand the fundamentals of avoiding fraud. An aware digital user backed by a proactive cybersecurity structure can’t be conned all too easily. The need is for constant surveillance and saturating awareness among vulnerable segments.

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