Fintechs, Enforcement Agencies Discuss Geotagging Money Trails, Faster Fraud Money Recovery

Fintechs and enforcement agencies on Tuesday discussed strategies to control the money mules, appoint nodal liason officers and geotagging digital transactions to track money trails, in the latest effort to strengthen the digital ecosystem against fraud and cyber threats.

According to a release, the Department of Financial Services at the Ministry of Finance along with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) organised a half-day industrywide workshop to share best practices and combat digital financial fraud and cybersecurity concerns.

The workshop was attended by around 60 fintech companies, four fintech associations, 23 state police departments, the CBI, ED, FIU-Ind and central government ministries as well as regulators, among others, in the national capital.

The topics of discussion, according to the release, also included real-time monitoring of data breaches by both the fintech companies and agencies, geotagging of digital transactions to track money trails, creating a suspicious registry of fraudsters and conducting regular audits of digital KYC.

The stakeholders were also said to have deliberated on a mechanism for freezing and unfreezing of accounts for faster recovery of defrauded money and also one for devising a mechanism to ensure data privacy and prevention of data theft.

Fintechs have been advised to appoint a nodal officer, in line with the suggestions from previous meetings with the ministry to appoint a contact point or nodal officer, to liaise with the law enforcement agencies to ensure timely action within the golden period. The golden period refers to the first few hours after a fraudulent transaction/theft. They have also been advised to leverage latest digital technology IPv6, API integration, etc.

The release noted that the insights focused on emerging trends of cybercrime and financial fraud were provided by Gujarat, Haryana, and Uttarakhand state police departments along with I4C.

Addressing the attendees, DFS Secretary Vivek Joshi urged for greater collaboration among the government, regulator, public and the private sector.

"He emphasised that fintechs are more technology and innovation-oriented, and they draw the traction of the regulators and LEAs, when they grow their businesses over a period of time," the release said.

NDTV Profit had previously reported that DFS intended to hold a day-long workshop with law enforcement agencies and fintechs on the subject in February. The Reserve Bank of India, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade and the Ministry of Finance were also reportedly looking at the ownership holding of listed companies.