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Introduction

The CID of Jharkhand Police has uncovered a network of around 8000 bank accounts engaged in cyber fraud across the state, with a focus on Deoghar district, revealing a surprising 25% concentration of fraudulent accounts. In a recent meeting with bank officials, the CID shared compiled data, with 20% of the identified accounts traced to State Bank of India branches. This revelation, surpassing even Jamtara's cyber fraud reputation, prompts questions about the extent of cybercrime in Jharkhand. Under Director General Anurag Gupta's leadership, the CID has registered 90 cases, apprehended 468 individuals, and seized 1635 SIM cards and 1107 mobile phones through the Prakharna portal to combat cybercrime. 

This shocking revelation by, Jharkhand Police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has built a comprehensive database comprising information on about 8000 bank accounts tied to cyber fraud operations in the state. This vital information has aided in the launch of investigations to identify the account holders implicated in these illegal actions. Furthermore, the CID shared this information with bank officials at a meeting on January 12 to speed up the identification process.

Background of the Investigation

The CID shared the collated material with bank officials in a meeting on 12 January 2024 to expedite the identification process. A stunning 2000 of the 8000 bank accounts under investigation are in the Deoghar district alone, with 20 per cent of these accounts connected to various State Bank of India branches. The discovery of 8000 bank accounts related to cybercrime in Jharkhand is shocking and disturbing. Surprisingly, Deoghar district has exceeded even Jamtara, which was famous for cybercrime, accounting for around 25% of the discovered bogus accounts in the state.

As per the information provided by the CID Crime Branch, it has been found that most of the accounts were opened in banks, are currently under investigation and around 2000 have been blocked by the investigating agencies.

Recovery Process

During the investigation, it was found out that most of these accounts were running on rent, the cyber criminals opened them by taking fake phone numbers along with Aadhar cards and identity cards from people in return these people(account holders) will get a fixed amount every month. 

The CID has been unrelenting in its pursuit of cybercriminals. Police have recorded 90 cases and captured 468 people involved in cyber fraud using the Prakharna site. 1635 SIM Cards and 1107 mobile phones were confiscated by police officials during raids in various cities.

The Crime Branch has revealed the names of the cities where accounts are opened

1. Deoghar 2500
2. Dhanbad 1183
3. Ranchi 959
4. Bokaro 716
5. Giridih 707
6. Jamshedpur 584
7. Hazaribagh 526
8. Dumka 475
9. Jamtara 443

Impact on the Financial Institutions and Individuals

These cyber scams significantly influence financial organisations and individuals; let us investigate the implications.

• Victims: Cybercrime victims have significant financial setbacks, which can lead to long-term financial insecurity. In addition, people frequently suffer mental pain as a result of the breach of personal information, which causes worry, fear, and a lack of faith in the digital financial system. One of the most difficult problems for victims is the recovery process, which includes retrieving lost cash and repairing the harm caused by the cyberattack. Individuals will find this approach time-consuming and difficult, in a lot of cases people are unaware of where and when to approach and seek help. Hence, awareness about cybercrimes and a reporting mechanism are necessary to guide victims through the recovery process, aiding them in retrieving lost assets and repairing the harm inflicted by cyberattacks.

• Financial Institutions: Financial institutions face direct consequences when they incur significant losses due to cyber financial fraud. Unauthorised account access, fraudulent transactions, and the compromise of client data result in immediate cash losses and costs associated with investigating and mitigating the breach's impact. Such assaults degrade the reputation of financial organisations, undermine trust, erode customer confidence, and result in the loss of potential clients. 

• Future Implications and Solutions: Recently, the CID discovered a sophisticated cyber fraud network in Jharkhand. As a result, it is critical to assess the possible long-term repercussions of such discoveries and propose proactive ways to improve cybersecurity. The CID's findings are expected to increase awareness of the ongoing threat of cyber fraud to both people and organisations. Given the current state of cyber dangers, it is critical to implement rigorous safeguards and impose heavy punishments on cyber offenders. Government organisations and regulatory bodies should also adapt their present cybersecurity strategies to address the problems posed by modern cybercrime.

Solution and Preventive Measures

Several solutions can help combat the growing nature of cybercrime. The first and foremost step is to enhance cybersecurity education at all levels, including:

• Individual Level: To improve cybersecurity for individuals, raising awareness across all age groups is crucial. This can only be done by knowing the potential threats by following the best online practices, following cyber hygiene, and educating people to safeguard themselves against financial frauds such as phishing, smishing etc.
• Multi-Layered Authentication: Encouraging individuals to enable MFA for their online accounts adds an extra layer of security by requiring additional verification beyond passwords. 
• Continuous monitoring and incident Response:  By continuously monitoring their financial transactions and regularly reviewing the online statements and transaction history, ensure that everyday transactions are aligned with your expenditures, and set up the accounts alert for transactions exceeding a specified amount for usual activity.   
• Report Suspicious Activity: If you see any fraudulent transactions or activity, contact your bank or financial institution immediately; they will lead you through investigating and resolving the problem. The victim must supply the necessary paperwork to support your claim.

How to reduce the risks

• Freeze compromised accounts: If you think that some of your accounts have been compromised, call the bank immediately and request that the account be frozen or temporarily suspended, preventing further unauthorised truncations

• Update passwords: Update and change your passwords for all the financial accounts, emails, and online banking accounts regularly, if you suspect any unauthorised access, report it immediately  and always enable MFA that adds an extra layer of protection to your accounts.

Conclusion

The CID's finding of a cyber fraud network in Jharkhand is a stark reminder of the ever-changing nature of cybersecurity threats. Cyber security measures are necessary to prevent such activities and protect individuals and institutions from being targeted against cyber fraud. As the digital ecosystem continues to grow, it is really important to stay vigilant and alert as an individual and society as a whole. We should actively participate in more awareness activities to update and upgrade ourselves.  

References 

• https://avenuemail.in/cid-uncovers-alarming-cyber-fraud-network-8000-bank-accounts-in-jharkhand-involved/
• https://www.the420.in/jharkhand-cid-cyber-fraud-crackdown-8000-bank-accounts-involved/
• https://www.livehindustan.com/jharkhand/story-cyber-fraudsters-in-jharkhand-opened-more-than-8000-bank-accounts-cid-freezes-2000-accounts-investigating-9203292.html

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Executive Summary:

An image has been spread on social media about the truck carrying money and gold coins impounded by Jharkhand Police that also during lok sabha elections in 2024. The Research Wing, CyberPeace has verified the image and found it to be generated using artificial intelligence. There are no credible news articles supporting claims about the police having made such a seizure in Jharkhand. The images were checked using AI image detection tools and proved to be AI made.  It is advised to share any image or content after verifying its authenticity. 

Claims:

The viral social media post depicts a truck intercepted by the Jharkhand Police during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.  It was claimed that the truck was filled with large amounts of cash and gold coins.

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Fact Check:

On receiving the posts, we started with keyword-search to find any relevant news articles related to this post. If such a big incident really happened it would have been covered by most of the media houses. We found no such similar articles. We have closely analysed the image to find any anomalies that are usually found in AI generated images. And found the same.   

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The texture of the tree in the image is found to be blended. Also, the shadow of the people seems to be odd, which makes it more suspicious and is a common mistake in most of the AI generated images. If we closely look at the right hand of the old man wearing white attire, it is clearly visible that the thumb finger is blended with his apparel. 

We then analysed the image in an AI image detection tool named ‘Hive Detector’. Hive Detector found the image  to be AI-generated.

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To validate the  AI fabrication, we checked with another AI image detection tool named ‘ContentAtScale AI detection’ and it detected the image as 82% AI. Generated.

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After validation of the viral post using AI detection tools, it is apparent that the claim is misleading and fake. 

Conclusion:

The viral image of the truck impounded by Jharkhand Police is found to be fake and misleading. The viral image is found to be AI-generated.  There has been no credible source that can support the claim made. Hence, the claim made is false and misleading. The Research Wing, CyberPeace previously debunked such AI-generated images with misleading claims. Netizens must verify such news that circulates in Social Media with bogus claims before sharing it further. 

• Claim: The photograph shows a truck intercepted by Jharkhand Police during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which was allegedly loaded with huge amounts of cash and gold coins.
• Claimed on: Facebook, Instagram, X (Formerly known as Twitter)
• Fact Check: Fake & Misleading

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Introduction 

The world has been witnessing various advancements in cyberspace, and one of the major changes is the speed with which we gain and share information. Cyberspace has been declared as the fifth dimension of warfare, and hence, the influence of technology will go a long way in safeguarding ourselves and our nation. Information plays a vital role in this scenario, and due to the easy access to information, the instances of misinformation and disinformation have been rampant across the globe. In the recent Russia-Ukraine crisis, it was clearly seen how instances of misinformation can lead to major loss and harm to a nation and its subjects. All nations and global leaders are deliberating upon this aspect and efficient sharing of information among friendly nations and inter-government organisations. 

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What is IW? 

IW, also known as Information warfare, is a critical aspect of defending our cyberspace. Information Warfare, in its broadest sense, is a struggle over the information and communications process, a struggle that began with the advent of human communication and conflict. Over the past few decades, the rapid rise in information and communication technologies and their increasing prevalence in our society has revolutionised the communications process and, with it, the significance and implications of information warfare. Information warfare is the application of destructive force on a large scale against information assets and systems, against the computers and networks that support the four critical infrastructures (the power grid, communications, financial, and transportation). However, protecting against computer intrusion, even on a smaller scale, is in the national security interests of the country and is important in the current discussion about information warfare.

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IW in India 

The aspects of misinformation have been recently seen in India in the form of the violence in Manipur and Nuh, which resulted in a massive loss of property and even human lives. A lot of miscreants or anti-national elements often seed misinformation in our daily news feed, and this is often magnified by social media platforms such as Instagram or X (formerly known as Twitter) and OTT-based messaging applications like WhatsApp or Telegram during the pandemic. It was seen nearly every week that some or the other new ways to treat COVID-19 were shared on Social media, which were false and inaccurate, especially in regard to the vaccination drive. A lot of posts and messages highlighted that the Vaccine is not safe, but a lot of this was a part of misinformation propaganda. Most of the time, the speed of spread of such episodes of misinformation is rapid and is often spread by the use of social media platforms and OTT messaging applications. 

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IW and Indian Army

Former Meta employees have recently come up with allegations that the Chinar Corp of the Indian Army had approached the social media giant to suppress some pages and channels which propagated content that may be objectionable. It is alleged that the formation made such a request to propagate its counterintelligence operations against Pakistan. The Chinar Corps is one of the most prestigious formations of the Indian Army and has the operational area of Kashmir Valley. The instances of online grooming and brainwashing have been common from the anti-national elements of Pakistan, as a faction of youth has been engaged in terrorist activities directly or indirectly. Various messaging and social media apps are used by the bad actors to lure in innocent youth on the fake and fabricated pretext of religion or any other social issue. The Indian Army had launched an anti-misinformation campaign in Kashmir, which aimed to protect Kashmiris from the propaganda of fake news and misinformation, which often led to radicalisation or even riots or attacks on defence forces. The aspect of net neutrality is often misused by bad actors in areas which are sociological, critical or unstable. The Indian Army has created special offices focusing on IW at all levels of formations, and the same is also used to eradicate all or any fake news or fake propaganda against the Indian Army. 

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Conclusion

Information has always been a source of power since the days of the Roman Empire. Control, dissemination, moderation and mode of sharing of information plays a vital role for any nation both in term of safety from external threats and to maintain National Security. Information Warfare is part of the 5th dimension of warfare, i.e., Cyberwar and is a growing concern for developed as well as developing nations. Information warfare is a critical aspect which needs to be incorporated in terms of basic training for defence personnel and law enforcement agencies. The anti-misinformation operation in Kashmir was primarily focused towards eradicating the bad elements after repealing Article 377,  from cyberspace and ensuring harmony, peace, stability and prosperity in the state.    

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References 

• https://irp.fas.org/eprint/snyder/infowarfare.htm
• https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/metas-india-team-delayed-action-against-army-led-misinfo-op-in-kashmir-us-news-report/article67352470.ece
• https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/facebook-instagram-block-handles-of-chinar-corps-no-response-from-company-over-a-week-says-officials-1910445-2022-02-08

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