10 months of online ‘suspect registry’ launch, over Rs 5,000 cr saved, 13L fraudulent transactions declined

Launched by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on September 10 last year, it can be accessed by States/UTs and central investigation and intelligence agencies.

Data accessed by The Indian Express shows they have frozen around 3,54,884 accounts in which fraudulent money was received, 11,10,566 unique accounts identified, and Rs 5,111.80 crore saved after fraudulent transactions were rejected between September 2024 and August 1 this year.

“Around 14.13 lakh people data have been shared by the banks/financial institutions in the suspect registry system, and data of around 13.06 lakh suspects identifiers were shared with the banks/financial institutions by the Centre,” a senior government official said.

Currently, there are 61 banks/financial institutions onboard the suspect registry system. The official said that among them, “35 private sector-Indian banks, 12 nationalised banks, six regional rural banks, six wallet/merchant and one private sector bank-foreign bank”.

Among the banks, an official said five banks — SBI, Canara Bank, Fino Payments bank, Axis bank, and Airtel Payments bank, contribute more in the suspect registry.

“The objective of the suspect registry system is to help all the banks/financial institutions to verify credentials of their customers before extending or giving any sort of financial services to them. With the help of a suspect registry, now the banks/financial institutions can monitor money transactions going into suspected accounts in real-time. To enhance the fraud risk management capabilities of the country’s financial system, they are now using data from the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), and the registry makes it possible to identify cybercriminals as potential threats,” an official said

An analysis by central agencies has revealed that this year alone, India is losing over Rs 1,000 crore monthly due to various forms of cyber fraud. “In January, Rs 1,837 crore was cheated, Rs 1,573 crore in February, Rs 1,683 in March, Rs 1,314 crore in April, Rs 1,644 crore in May, Rs 1,584 crore in June and Rs 1,829 crore in July. Analysis also shows that more than 80% of cheating cases are recorded in the financial fraud category,” the official said.

An official said that Rs 15.03 crore was refunded in January this year, Rs 9.48 crore in February, Rs 9.87 crore in March, Rs 15.75 crore in April, Rs 14.60 in May, Rs 18.45 crore in June and Rs 11.73 crore in July.