Supreme Court Orders RBI to Establish Bank SOPs for Digital Scam Victim Compensation
India's Supreme Court has directed the Reserve Bank of India to create standard operating procedures for banks to handle cyber fraud-linked accounts and develop a victim compensation framework.
The Supreme Court of India has mandated the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to establish standard operating procedures (SOPs) for banks to address accounts linked to cyber fraud within four weeks. This directive comes amid a rise in digital scams targeting individuals.
The new SOPs are expected to include a grievance redressal system, a mechanism for restoring recovered funds, and measures to enhance public awareness regarding these threats, according to reports. The court issued these directions while hearing suo motu proceedings on "digital arrest scams."
Furthermore, all states and union territories have been instructed to operationalize State Cyber Crime Coordination Centres within one month. They are also urged to adopt the e-Zero FIR mechanism in consultation with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to expedite the reporting and investigation of cyber fraud cases.
An inter-departmental committee will also examine lowering the financial threshold for CBI investigations into cyber fraud cases and consider consolidating multiple fraud cases linked to the same organized network. Authorities have already reported success in restoring approximately ₹18.05 crore (USD 2.1 million) in 36,290 cases with the assistance of 57 banks and state authorities.
The court's orders follow an increase in online extortion scams. The central government has also recently requested WhatsApp to implement stronger safeguards against such digital scams, including blocking device IDs associated with fraudulent activities.