Open Access Research Article
The Net Misdemeanor On Banknotes (By-Milan Donson)
Published Paper
Article Details
The
Net Misdemeanor On Banknotes
Authored By-Milan Donson
Abstract
The Internet is a global -network that
connects with the computer and in exchange of information. The Internet made
information for everyone .The Life and moving of life became easier and moving
of life with more technological. From the easier and technological way, some
people take more advantage ,as getting into an unauthorized access. The getting
into an unauthorized access through without consent can be termed into ‘cyber
crime’. Cyber Crime is biggest and latest complicated issues facing by the advanced
world. Cyber crime can be done against individual or individual property
,against an organisation, against society .The Cyber crime can be in the form
of fraud ,data theft etc. The main and frequent way on
Cyber
crime is in banking .Because banking is not only done with knowing people
,transaction can be made to an third party also. Here the unauthorized way of
interfering into the transaction between them is most terrible and unknowingly
.The transfer of fund, getting into the down payments made ,knowing the
passwords and files these all will into cyber crime. The Cyber crime not only
became challenge to the growing technologies ,it is a great challenge to the
infringement of an individual privacy .In India, traditional way of banking
like banking on basic paper based instruments like cheques ,pay-in-slips is on
the way to the electronic banking i e, ’e-banking’. The way of doing crime in
traditional way to cyber way is much new-fangled ,even the person involved in
cyber crime will be in the behind the screen only .The much of money is
increasing day by day as due to the economic factor ,here the people will
involve in more ways to carry money like e-wallets and other operations. The
Crime will not restrict to banking only, even it is a way to the ‘Cyber Terrorism’.
Keywords: Cyber Crime, E-Banking, Cyber Terrorism
Introduction
From the difficulty to
detect and even more difficulty to prove ,the cyber crime has many
unconventional way of committing crime .As keeping it
away ,as the new advanced level of banking helps in speedy payments and
settlement stratagem. As the part of progress the traditional using of ATM
cards has changed to online banking and to internet-related crimes. Before to
the sudden expansion of banking sector ,the crime was mainly targeted on the
outside boundaries of internet ,but when users and thinkers became mechanized
,the pattern of crime became much closer to the victim .The Cyber frauds has
mainly discernible in the area of cash involvements .The pattern of committing
crime with unseen face an motive. [1]Digital banking makes it easy
and convenient for consumers to manage their financial lives, including doing
everything from paying bills to sending money to shopping online. And that’s
become especially important as the Covid-19 pandemic changes the way people
carry out banking tasks. In the latest World Retail Banking Report,
57percentage of consumers say they now
prefer internet (online) banking to traditional branch banking. And
55percentage of consumers now prefer using mobile banking apps to stay on top
of their finances, up from 47percentage in the pre-pandemic era. According to a
2020 study published by KPMG, 87percentage of consumers say data privacy is a
basic human right. Yet 68percentage say they don’t trust companies to ethically
sell their personal data .In the case of [2]
Mphasis BPO Fraud (2005): In December 2004, four employees of Mphasis,
working at an outsourcing facility in India, obtained PINs from four customers
of the company’s clients based in the U.S. They were not authorized to do so;
but they impersonated that to have the authority and with details obtained,
they opened new bank accounts using false identities. Within a couple of
months, they used the credentials and transferred all the money from the bank
accounts of the clients (in the U.S.) to their new accounts at Indian banks. By
April 2005, the Indian police had been informed by the U.S. bank of the scam,
and post-investigation, the individuals involved in the scam were arrested. It
was informed that an amount of $426,000 was stolen, out of which $230,000 was
recovered.
The
arrests were made successfully when these fraudsters tried withdrawing the cash
from the Indian bank account. The Court held that the nature of the crime was
that of unauthorized access to commit fraudulent transactions. [3]
Check
Point’s “Mobile Security Report 2021” lists a 15% increase in global banking
Trojan activity in 2020, threats that put mobile users’ banking credentials at
risk as threat actors have been using mobile remote access Trojans (MRATs),
banking Trojans, and premium diallers often hidden within apps claiming to
offer COVID-19-related information in 2021, thus making mobile banking apps
fertile ground for cyber attacks and one of the biggest risks for the banking
industry.
[4]
In India in the case of Umashankar
Sivasubramaniian v. ICICI Bank (Civil Petition No. 2462/2008, Adjudicating
Officer of Judicature of Chennai) – The complainant, Mr. Umashankar, alleged
that his bank account was wrongfully debited on account of negligence on the
part of the bank. The Bank contended that the case refers to phishing and
blamed negligence on part of the complainant and was of the opinion that the
matter cannot be brought under the purview of the IT Act and that the
complainant must lodge an FIR. The Adjudicating Authority vide its order held
that the ICICI bank had failed to establish that due diligence was exercised to
prevent the breach, found that the Bank was guilty of the offenses made out in
Section 85 read with relevant clauses of Section 43 of the IT Act and directed
ICICI Bank to pay to the complainant a total sum of Rs. 12,85,000/- (Rupees
Twelve Lakh
Eighty-Five
Thousand only). The bank had obtained a stay and an appeal was filed before the
Cyber Appellate Authority.
By
Hacking or by an e-mail attacks, it can break a threat to the sovereignty of a
country .In
India
,all the legal transactions, electronic data exchange are guided by the IT Act
2000.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given guidelines to the banks for the
protection and secureness of e-banking like the facilities of three-step
-authentications. To some extent it keeps the doing the e-banking transparent
and secure .But there is evils happening beyond the laws and regulations .This
paper says the Cyber crimes and law
which affects the banking sector and which is going to affect the banking
sector by the technological and economical effect due to the advancement of the
world.
Literature Review
Pauledison
and Ramesh (2018) states that ubiquitous and prevalent online threats about
hackers, identity theft, stolen password, viruses, warms and spyware tend to
make customers wary just like in any other country. These customers are also
not sure about the efficiency of banks websites and their commitment to
allocate funds for reliable encryption mechanisms and robest back-end technologies
and systems.
Anuja
and Thakur (2017) states the biggest pitfall of the internet banking scheme
which needs to be guarded against by the common customer hacker attacks,
phishing, malware and other unauthorized activity are not uncommon on the net.
Most banks have made it mandatory to display scanned copies of cleared checks
online to prevent identity theft. It is essential to checks online to prevent
identity theft. It is essential to check bank’s security policies and
protections while opening an account and commencing the usage of online backing
facilities.
Monisha
, et.al, (2017) states that risk of revelation of not to be disclosed or
confidential information & alarm of identity theft is one of the major
reasons that restrain the consumers while opting for electronic banking
services. Traditional banking is often used by customers because of lack of
conviction in the online bank transaction. The bank may march into their
confidentiality by using their information for marketing and other purposes without
agreement of consumers.
Nidhi
(2016) mentioned that trust is among the significant factors which influence
the customers willingness to engage in transaction with web merchants. A large
group of customers refuses to opt for e-banking facilities due to uncertainty
and security concerns. Around 50% of internet users are not using internet
banking in India because of security concerns.
Kumar
(2017) states that transferring a large amount of money, security is a
significant factor of online banking. It is taken very seriously during online
banking procedures. Most of the people seen to believe that it is a hacker
jungle out there and stay very wary so simplifying their lives by using cyber
space even though it has became a standard and convenient way of banking.
Ramesh
and Muthumani (2017) identify that the confidentiality, integrity,
authentication, this three are very important features of the banking sector
and where very successfully managed all over the
world
before the coming of internet. Communication across open and insecure channels
such as the internet might not be best base for bank-client relations as trust
might partially be lost.
Sriram
and Sai(2018) mentioned that conservative Indian Bank customers used to years
of saving in an erstwhile mixed-socialist economy are always fearful of losing
hard-earned savings in online scams .These customers are also not sure about
the efficiency of banks.
Since
they value their customers ,they always use the most advanced security
technology in protecting their website.
Senthilkumar
(2018) identify that the risk of disclosing private information and fear of
identity theft is one of the major factors that inhabit the consumers while
opting for internet banking services .Most of the consumers believe that using
online banking services make them vulnerable to identity theft. According to
the study consumers warry about their privacy for information shared and saved
for the financial transaction purpose.
Anitha
(2019) mentioned that right now with low and lack of adequate security
,infrastructure and internet penetration, it is significant to take necessary
actions to enchant e-banking. Information technology provides security and
legal framework for e-commerce transactions as well e-banking. Information
Technology Act or RBI suggested that criterion of Digital Signature
Certification Board for authentication of electronic records and communication
with digital signatures.
Gupta,
et.al (2021)noted that basic challenge for banks to persuade the users on this
element ,which may in advance establish the internet banking operation. The
users have some confusion or question about whether the dealing is completed
before receiving the confirmation message.
Research Question
i) How Cyber Crime on banking can be
controlled?
Objectives
The
main objective of this paper is to identify the Cyber Crime on banking and
measures to control the cyber-crimes by cyber laws.
Methodology
Present
Study is mainly based on secondary data collected from various sources about
available information on the breakthrough of transgression on money matters.
Also the secondary data has been collected from different sources which include
the official data as well as available literature on the subject from different
journals, books, articles , newspaper etc.
Study Results
The
private information is exposed and concerns about frauds are the main elements
which made the customers to bring backward in using e-banking .The bank assures
a safe banking by steps for resolving the security and other concerns by :
-)Keeping
security concerns in mind ,all banks in India must follow a standard. Also, the
banks Association should design this standard.
-)All
banks must adopt adequate security measures to maintain the secrecy and
confidentiality of data .Further ,they must use logical access control to
implement it.
-)In
Order to mitigate the money laundering risk , banks must develop an Anti money
laundering (ALM) technology for reporting and querying.
-)Banks
must have an internal grievance redressal system to adopt a fraud-free culture
of banking.
-)All
banks must have an explicit security plan along with documentation .Further
,banks must strictly ensure physical access control.
Privacy
on the different hand become another threat in doing the e-banking .The effect
of privacy will affect the customers knowingly or by unknowingly .In India ,The
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)however presents a different set of data.
According to NCRB
,India
reported 50,035 cyber crime in 2020.44,546 cases in 2019 and 27,248 cases in
2018 .The year 2020; 4,047 cases of online banking fraud ;2160 cases of ATM
fraud;1194 credit/debit women and 578 cases of fake news on social media ,NCRB
data showed.
Source:
https://www.news18.com/news/india/cyber-crimes-in-india-spiked-nearly-ninetimes-since-2013-up-topped-chart-in-2020-data-4210703.html
Case Laws
i)In the case of Manoj Kumar Rai vs The State Of Jharkhand
on 4 March, 2021
It
has also been stated in the letter on the basis of certain newspaper reports
that 5024 cases have been registered in the last year of 2020 in Jharkhand
State alone and the customers are in danger of suffering fraud in absence of
proper safety system mechanism in the banks. It has also been complained that
the system operating are opaque and do not respond the issues raised by the
affected customers. The fraudsters usually start with phishing and sharing
personal data and then carry on navigating freely, unchecked by the system
which may not be possible if proper alerts and checks are inbuilt in the
system. It has also been brought in notice by the letter that single OTP
sharing by the customers is the sole explanation by the banks for putting blame
on the customers who have been subjected to the fraud. The system does not stop
fraudulent transactions in spite of unfamiliar pattern of transactions, frantic
in nature, etc. It is stated in the letter that the Banks usually avoid such
questions and take cover of system which itself requires updating to meet the
menace with a strict safety norms. It has further been informed that the banks
profiting by promoting the internet and digital banking require to be more
responsive to help the fraud victims instead of refusing their claims. The real
threat of misuse of such money siphoned by the fraudsters due to laches in the
system by some antinational activities may also be possible and it is a serious
concern
for the administration also.[5]
ii)
In the case of, Pps International vs
Punjab National Bank on 14 June, 2022
The opposite party filed its written
reply on 11.11.2009 in which, the material facts have not been denied. It has
been stated that the complainant opened Current Account vide Account
No.2726002100046578, in PNB Branch at Sector-27, Noida, w.e.f 05.05.2006 with
Smart Roamer Account facility. PNB started Internet Banking Services in August,
2003 with the approval of Reserve Bank of India as per RBI guidelines issued in
June, 2001. Internet banking facility is available to retail customers and
corporate customers on all the branches of PNB. For corporate Internet Banking,
the corporate has to submit resolution of the Board of
Directors,
authorising a particular person for using the services. Internet Banking system
of PNB was fully secured and in conformity of international standards. The PNB
has employed all security measures which were internally acclaimed and reputed.
For operating Internet Banking, login identity and password was issued to the
complainant. Without login identity and password, account cannot be operated
through Internet Banking. The website of PNB can be accessed from links www.netpnb.com and www.pnbindia.com. First page of the website
displays the following important notice/icons to all the visitors/account
holders i.e. important message, security features, safeguards,
Precaution for net banking and Beware of fraudulent mails. On clicking
on aforesaid links, respective window will open, wherein detailed guidelines
have been given by the bank regarding use of internet facility and how to
secure against any email frauds. The bank emphasizes that the bank will never
contact any of the customers and ask for login details or password or any other
personal information over email. The bank provides that the customer should be
beware of fraudulent website deceptively similar to PNB's banking website of
scam emails which may contain virus or be linked to fraudulent website. The
bank always insists to look at the padlock symbol on the right hand corner of
the web page to ensure that the customer is connected to secure PNB's website
and the customer should logout, when he/she intends to exit internet banking to
ensure that the secured session is terminated. The opposite party has provided
a checklist while accessing the account through internet as under , Keep user
ID and password a secret, select
password which is difficult to guess,
Never write or disclose your password to anyone including officials in
the bank, Destroy the password mailer
after changing the password, change the
password
periodically, Use all virtual/dynamic keyboard shown on the screen to enter the
password Avoid accessing internet from
cyber café or share network, Protect the
computer with adequate anti-virus solution and
Never click on a website link/attachment in unknown/suspicious email.
Due to fault of the complainant, important data of login identity and password
might have leaked, on the basis of which unauthorised transaction were made.
The complainant has lodged FIR of the incident. The police is investing the
case and may come to a definite conclusion. Although Rs.54/- lacs has been
recovered during investigation but involvement of the employees of PNB in the
incidents has not been surfaced.[6]
IT Act And Amendments
Privacy
and Security are the main part of doing banking transactions for the companies
to the individuals .The IT Act provides a legal guard for the consumers
information accessed by the unauthorized access by various features likes
digital signatures, the appointment of controller of Certifying Authorities,
safeguards to banking sector like steps authentication facilities for banking.
From the part of the government majority of cyber crime in India are bailable
offence these became most distinguishable issue in this protection stage of
cyber-crimes. In the IT (Amendment) Act, 2008 made all most all cyber-crimes on
bailable offences.
7This amendment introduced the
controversial Section 66A into the Act.
Section 66A
Section
66A gave authorities the power to arrest anyone accused of posting content on
social media that could be deemed ‘offensive’. This amendment was passed in the
Parliament without any debate. As per the said section, a person could be
convicted if proved on the charges of sending any ‘information that is grossly
offensive or has menacing character’. It also made it an offence to send any
information that the sender knows to be false, but for the purpose of
annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal
intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill-will, through a computer or electronic
device. The penalty prescribed for the above was up to three years’
imprisonment with fine.
Arguments Against Section 66A
Experts
stated that the terms ‘offensive’, ‘menacing’, ‘annoyance’, etc. were vague and
illdefined or not defined at all. Anything could be construed as offensive by
anybody. There was a lot of scope for abuse of power using this provision to
intimidate people working in the media. This also curbed the freedom of speech
and expression enshrined as a fundamental right in the Constitution. The
section was used most notably to arrest persons who made any uncharitable
remarks or criticisms against politicians. The government contended that the
section did not violate any fundamental right and that only certain words were
restricted. It stated that as the number of internet users mushroomed in the
country, there was a need to regulate the content on the internet just like
print and electronic media. The Supreme Court, however, in 2015, struck down
this section of the IT Act saying it was unconstitutional as it violated
Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. This was in the famous Shreya Singhal v Union of India case
(2015).
Section
69A
Section
69A empowers the authorities to intercept, monitor or decrypt any information
generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer resource if it is
necessary or expedient to do so in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity
of India, defense of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with
foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission
of any cognizable offence or for investigation of any offence.It also empowers
the government to block internet sites in the interests of the nation. The law
also contained the procedural safeguards for blocking any site.When parties
opposed to the section stated that this section violated the right to privacy,
the Supreme Court contended that national security is above individual privacy.
The apex court upheld the constitutional validity of the section. Also read
about privacy laws and India. The recent banning of certain Chinese Apps was
done citing provisions under Section 69A of the IT Act. The Indian Telegraph
Act, 1885 allows the government to tap phones. However, a 1996 SC judgement
allows tapping of phones only during a ‘public emergency’. Section 69A does not
impose any public emergency restriction for the government.
Information Technology Intermediary Guidelines (Amendment)
Rules, 2018
The
Rules have been framed under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act. This
section covers intermediary liability. Section 79(2)(c) of the Act states that
intermediaries must observe due diligence while discharging their duties, and
also observe such other guidelines as prescribed by the Central Government.
Online
Intermediaries:
An
intermediary is a service that facilitates people to use the Internet, such as
Internet Services Providers (ISPs), search engines and social media platforms.
There
are two categories of intermediaries:
Conduits:
Technical providers of internet access or transmission services.
Hosts:
Providers of content services (online platforms, storage services).
Information
Technology Intermediary Guidelines (Amendment) Rules were first released in
2011 and in 2018, the government made certain changes to those rules.In 2018,
there was a rise in the number of mob lynchings spurred by fake news &
rumours and messages circulated on social media platforms like Whatsapp.To curb
this, the government proposed stringent changes to Section 79 of the IT Act.
According
to the 2018 Rules, social media intermediaries should publish rules and privacy
policy to curb users from engaging in online material which is paedophilic,
pornographic, hateful, racially and ethnically objectionable, invasive of
privacy, etc. The 2018 Rules further provide that whenever an order is issued
by the government agencies seeking information or assistance concerning
cybersecurity, then the intermediaries must provide them the same within 72
hours. The Rules make it obligatory for online intermediaries to appoint a
‘Nodal person of Contact’ for 24X7 coordination with law enforcement agencies
and officers to ensure compliance. The intermediaries are also required to
deploy such technologies based on automated tools and appropriate mechanisms
for the purpose of identifying or removing or disabling access to unlawful
information. The changes will also require online platforms to break end-to-end
encryption in order to ascertain the origin of messages.
Now
presently Government Initiatives for Cyber Security are :
-)Surakshit
Bhart Initiative
-)Cyber
Swachta Kendra
-)Online
Cyber Crime reporting portal
-)Indian
Cyber Crime Coordination Centre
-)National
Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC)
The
Government is looking at a new legislative framework with the new rulemaking
capabilities that deals with various issues related to digital space with the
majority of cybercrimes need to be made non-bailable offences .A comprehensive
data protection regime needs to be incorporated in the law to make it more
effective.
Findings
This
research paper shows that ,there should be some measures from the side of bank
to control the cyber crime on e-banking:
-)Encrypted
email messaging
-)Three
-step authentication
-)Electronic
signature verification
-)Continuous
account monitoring
-)Automatic
logout function
-)Backup
& Recovery
-)Deactivation
of login after several incorrect attempts
-)Privacy
protection training for customers
Even
there is protection from the bank for doing the safe banking ,there is need of
protection from users itself:
-)Choose
trustworthy financial apps
-)Be
wary of phishing scams
-)Sign
up for banking alerts
-)Steer
clear of public Wi-Fi
-)Choose
strong and unique password
Conclusion
E-banking
provides facility of transfer of money through any parts of the world at any
time .The e-banking not only helps in the advancement for the bank, it will
also make the advancement in the customer involving in the online banking. The
drive towards e-banking makes banking more easier for the customers, but the
same time the bank should provide the most convenient way of e-banking by
giving most updated application for increase the effectiveness and efficiency
and create awareness on usage of e-banking for secure use of ebanking. The
safety and security are the main challenge in providing good e-banking
services. There should be awareness from the bank and customers should also be
aware of problems in using of online banking and what made them from not using
of online banking services .Even though the legal framework provide a guard on
online banking .The users itself should known what they are doing. The main
part of cyber crime is that there is no face to face interaction with the
accused and with the victim. The
vigilant use of e-banking itself is needed from the customers itself .The
sharing of credentials and data’s to a unauthorized access, these all can lead
to cyber-crime. The security stability of e-banking also connected with the
security of the gadget using for the purpose of banking. The passwords
,security pin number ,data’s authentication pin all these instruments needs a
extreme of security .Any unauthenticated access of passwords and pins will
affects to the security and privacy .This fraud even leads to the gain access
of bank credentials.
References
Ø Anitha.K,A
(2019), Study on Challenges and Opportunities in E-Banking Sector in India ,
New Frontiers in Business, Management and Technology, Vol.7.
Ø Anuja
Bhadauria and Thakur K.S , (2017), A Conceptual Study of challenges for
ebanking scheme with refence to Commercial Bank in India, Journal of Advances
and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education ,Vol.12,Issue No.2,January 2017
Ø Kumar
Akshaya Bhandary (2018), Prospects and Challenges in E-Banking :A perception
study.
Ø Sriram
Devulapalli, Karthik Sai Orugati (2018) ,Challenges
and Opportunities of ebanking in India,IOSR-JBM,PP 56-61
Ø Ruchi
Gupta, Amit Mittal, Bhagabat Barik, (2021), A conceptual study on emerging
challenges towards e-banking ,Research
Journal of Management Science
,Vol
10(3),PP 34-39,September 2021
Ø Pauledison
Lawrence, Ramesh R P, (2018), A Study on challenges of internet banking with
reference to Chennai city, IJCMR ,Vol.4,Issue 4,July 2018
Ø Monisha
, Kanika Bhudhiraja, Jatinder Kaur (2017), Electronic Banking in India
:Innovations
Challenges and Opportunities ,IJERT ,2017
Ø Kumar
Nidhi (2016), E-Banking in India :Challenges and Opportunities ,IJSTM
,Vol.No.5,Issue
8,August 2016
Ø Ramesh.L,
Muthumani.A (2017), Electronic Banking in India ;Challenges and
Opportunities
,IJSTM ,Vol.No.6,Issue No.2,February 2017
Ø Senthilkumar.C,
(2018), E-Banking in India: Challenges ,JETIR,Vol.5,Issue
12,December
2018
Ø https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/digital-banking-consumer-data-privacyconcerns/
Ø https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/information-technology-act2000/#:~:text=The%20Information%20Technology%20Act%2C%202000%20was%20
enacted%20by%20the%20Indian,and%20also%20to%20prevent%20cybercrime
Ø https://www.crn.in/columns/securing-modern-e-banking-services-for-banks/
Ø https://indiankanoon.org/docfragment/199569901/?big=0&formInput=internet+ban king+fraud
Ø https://www.news18.com/news/india/cyber-crimes-in-india-spiked-nearly-ninetimes-since-2013-up-topped-chart-in-2020-data-4210703.html
Ø https://www.toppr.com/guides/business-economics-cs/money-and-banking/risks-ofe-banking/#:~:text=Security%20Risk,-
When%20we%20talk&text=All%20customers%20want%20their%20transactions,a
ccess%20to%20the%20bank's%20systems
Ø https://zeenews.india.com/technology/two-months-of-2022-saw-more-cybercrimes-than-entire-2018-why-e-fraud-is-a-ticking-time-bomb-2458733.html
Article Information
The Net Misdemeanor On Banknotes (By-Milan Donson)
Authors: Milan Donson
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2022/08/24
- Volume 2
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Access Open Access
- License CC 4.0
All research articles published in International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis are open access and available to read, download and share, subject to proper citation of the original work.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis.