Tomnath Upreti<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Information and communication technology has become the basis of modern governance, economy and social life. Digital services have expanded rapidly in Nepal. Their use has increased in government services, banking, electronic payments, social media, education, and business. Along with this, the risk of cybercrime has also increased. <\/p>\n Cybercrime is no longer just a technology problem. It has become an issue related to the rule of law, national security, economic stability, personal privacy, and human rights. According to the Nepal Police, 20,526 applications related to cybercrime were registered in the fiscal year 2082\u00f783. In the financial year 2081\u00f782, the number of such applications was 18,926. In the financial year 2080\u00f781, 19,730 applications were registered. This shows that the problem continues to be at a high level. <\/p>\n The nature of cybercrime is multifaceted. The main forms of cybercrime are unauthorized access, data theft, website hacking, identity theft, online fraud, phishing, misuse of social media, cyber bullying, blackmail, and privacy violations. <\/p>\n The latest data shows that social media has become an important medium. In the financial year 2082\u00f783, 7,123 applications related to Facebook and Messenger, 6,776 applications related to Tiktok, 3,105 related to WhatsApp and 1,031 applications related to Telegram were registered. There were also 628 applications related to Instagram. These figures show that a large part of cybercrime is related to social media. <\/p>\n Another serious area of cybercrime is financial fraud. With the expansion of digital banking and electronic payments, phishing, social engineering, OTP frauds, fake trading platforms, and unauthorized access to banks and wallet accounts have increased. <\/p>\n The Financial Information Unit of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has identified the major trends in cyber-enabled fraud as gift or parcel fraud, misuse of identity through social media, fake online business, OTP fraud, lottery fraud and unauthorized access to bank and wallet accounts. According to the latest publication of Nepal Rastra Bank, the number of police complaints related to financial fraud and fraud reached 7,723 in the fiscal year 2024\u00f725, which is a significant increase from 4,112 in the previous year.<\/p>\n The Electronic Transactions Act, 2006 is the basis of Nepal’s cyber legal framework. This act was enacted to legalize electronic transactions, electronic records, and digital authentication. Sections 45 and 46 of the Act criminalize unauthorized access to computers and damage to computers and information systems, respectively. <\/p>\n Section <\/p>\n 47 provides for the publication and transmission of unlawful material in electronic form. Section 48 makes it an offence to breach the confidentiality of electronic records and information. Section 47 provides for a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh or imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or both. <\/p>\n However, there are legal and practical challenges to the application of the Electronic Transactions Act. The Act is based on a structure older than the current complexity of digital technology. It is difficult to adequately address artificial intelligence, deepfakes, crypto-related fraud, ransomware, cloud crime, digital identity theft and new forms of transnational cyberattacks.<\/p>\n Therefore, there is a need for a clear definition of cybercrime, classification of offences, management of digital evidence, responsibility of service providers, victim protection and cross-border investigations. The law is not only a means of controlling crime. It should also be a means of protecting civil rights. <\/p>\n Freedom of expression and privacy protection are essential while controlling cybercrime. Criminalizing legitimate criticism, journalism or civil expression in the name of controlling cybercrime is dangerous for democratic governance. Therefore, the definition of cybercrime should be clear, definitive and proportionate. The boundaries between crime and criticism should be clear in the law. The credibility of digital evidence in investigation and prosecution should be maintained. Judicial oversight should also be strengthened. This will help in maintaining a balance between cybersecurity and human rights. <\/p>\n The Government of Nepal has put forward a policy to build a safe and reliable cyberspace through the National Cyber Security Policy, 2080. Now the challenge is implementation. Cyber security should not be understood only as the responsibility of the Nepal Police. Coordination between the Communication and Information Technology Bodies, Nepal Rastra Bank, Telecommunication Sector, Banks and Financial Institutions, Digital Wallets, Internet Service Providers, Educational Institutions and the Private Sector is necessary. Early warning of cyber incidents, risk identification, digital evidence protection and immediate response systems should be institutionalized. Investment in skilled manpower and state-of-the-art forensic infrastructure should also be increased for cyber security. <\/p>\n International cooperation is essential in the investigation of cybercrimes. Criminals can target citizens of Nepal living outside Nepal. The data can be on servers in another country. Financial money can reach the account of a third country. In such a crime, the concept of traditional jurisdiction alone is not enough. Digital evidence sharing, mutual legal assistance, coordination with service providers, and international police cooperation are essential. The transnational nature of crypto-related crime is also linked to this challenge. The Financial Information Unit of the Nepal Rastra Bank, in its strategic analysis of 2025, has researched online financial and crypto fraud networks worth more than Rs 3 billion linked to Nepal and India. <\/p>\n The first level of cybersecurity is the citizens themselves. Strong and different passwords should be used. Multi-factor authentication should be activated. OTPs, PINs, passwords, and banking details should not be given to anyone. Suspicious links should not be opened. Unknown files should not be downloaded. Sensitive personal information should not be made public on social media. If a call is received about a bank or wallet, it should be reconfirmed through official means. Organizations should make regular security checks, data encryption, backups, access controls, incident response planning and security audits a mandatory practice.<\/p>\n Cybersecurity is not a one-time thing. It is a continuous process. <\/p>\n The long-term solution requires improvement at three levels. First, clear and human rights-friendly cyber laws should be enacted. Second, the institutional capacity of investigation, digital forensics and prosecution should be enhanced. Third, digital literacy should be extended from schools to public administration. According to the latest statistics of the Nepal Police, in the fiscal year 2082\u00f783, out of 20,526 applications, 161 cases were registered and 155 were arrested. It is not appropriate to interpret the huge gap between the application and the case as evidence of weak investigation. It also includes the nature of evidence, jurisdiction, victim cooperation and other legal aspects. But it does make it clear that there is a need to measure the effectiveness of the entire process from complaint to investigation, prosecution and judicial conclusion. Cybercrime should not be accepted as an inevitable side effect of technology. It is possible to control it. It requires legal clarity, institutional capacity, technological investment, citizen awareness, and international cooperation. With the expansion of social media, new forms of cyberbullying, defamation, identity theft, and gender-based violence have emerged. With financial digitization, the risk of fraud has increased. Therefore, cybersecurity is no longer just an ancillary matter of development. It is a fundamental aspect of national security and good governance. To build a secure digital society, the state must maintain a balance between rights and security. Citizens should adopt digital discipline. The private sector should increase security investment. And law enforcement agencies should update their capacity with technology. Only when all these aspects are integrated, Nepal can build a reliable, secure and rights-friendly cyberspace. <\/p>\n (Upreti is the under-secretary in the Government of Nepal.) )<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The web of digital crime in Nepal Tomnath Upreti Information and communication technology has become the basis of modern governance, economy and social life. Digital services have expanded rapidly in Nepal. Their use has increased in government services, banking, electronic payments, social media, education, and business. Along with this, the risk of cybercrime has alsoContinue reading “The web of digital crime in Nepal”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":96861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-samachar-en"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/web-post_88cc1ecb.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96879"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96880,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96879\/revisions\/96880"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media\/96861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"