I4C flags fake Gmail id, Google issued takedown notice

An error message shows that the flagged email id is not active anymore.

The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), which works under the home ministry, told Google to disable access to a fraudulent email ID, allegedly used for impersonation and large-scale cyber fraud.

The email ID, icccconline@gmail.com, was being misused by fraudsters posing as officials from I4C, the government told Google in a takedown notice.

"The perpetrators are reportedly impersonating the I4C to deceive individuals, and commit fraud on a large scale," the notice, sent to Google in December, said. Moneycontrol has reviewed a copy of the document.

The notice, issued under provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, mandated Google to act within 36 hours of receiving the communication.

When Moneycontrol tried to reach out to the email id in question, it bounced with an error message, "The email account that you tried to reach out to doesn't exist", indicating that Google complied with the directive.

Google is yet to respond to Moneycontrol’s queries. The article will be updated when a response is received.

According to the notice, this impersonation was intended to deceive individuals, potentially leading to financial or personal data losses.

The fraudulent activities were flagged under Section 66D of the IT Act, 2000, which pertains to cheating by impersonation using a computer resource, as well as Section 319 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which deals with offenses related to misrepresentation and fraud.

Under the IT Act, intermediaries such as Google are required to remove unlawful content when notified by the government, failing which they risk losing their legal immunity.

The IT Rules, 2021, further strengthen these obligations by making platforms accountable for hosting content that threatens national security, public order or morality.

Last week, Moneycontrol reported how 119 apps available in India, mostly video and voice chat platforms linked to developers in China and Hong Kong, could be potentially blocked. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology sent blocking orders to Google in this regard under Sec 69A of the IT Act.

Of the 119 apps, only 15 have been withheld so far, Moneycontrol has found. A smaller number of affected apps also originate from Singapore, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, a Moneycontrol analysis found.