Thanks to An Outdated Law, 2017 Will Be The Year Of Mobile Frauds

2017 will see a 65% rise in mobile phone frauds in India, as the prevalent IT Act doesn’t offer adequate protection.

2017 will see a 65% rise in mobile phone frauds in India. (Photo: iStock)

2016 saw two big events that brought millions of first-time users to the World Wide Web. Namely, the launch and rapid adoption of Reliance Jio 4G and PM Modi’s demonetisation move, which forced people to adopt cashless financial transactions.

As India moves ahead to meet the ambitious Digital India objective of ubiquitous connectivity, the threat of cyber fraud, theft and data breaches is beginning to raise its ugly head.

According to ASSOCHAM, mobile fraud cases in India will witness a 65% rise in 2017. Credit/debit card frauds and data theft through mobile phones will top the list of digital crimes, ASSOCHAM said.

Digital wallet companies like Paytm are seeing an unprecedented surge in usage and transactions as people opt for cashless transactions. But what about the safety of your money in these virtual vaults? Cyber law advocate Pavan Duggal voices the fears we don’t even know we should have. The unpreparedness of India’s legal machinery to address issues such as cyber crime and online fraud is disturbing.

All online activities are governed by the Indian Information technology Act that came into effect in 2000. This cyber law has only amended once in the last 16 years. Which puts it at a huge risk of being ill-equipped with recent technological developments.

Pavan Duggal, Cyber Law Advocate

Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim