Introduction

Misinformation is rampant all over the world and impacting people at large. In 2023, UNESCO commissioned a survey on the impact of Fake News which was conducted by IPSOS. This survey was conducted in 16 countries that are to hold national elections in 2024 with a total of 2.5 billion voters and showed how pressing the need for effective regulation had become and found that 85% of people are apprehensive about the repercussions of online disinformation or misinformation. UNESCO has introduced a plan to regulate social media platforms in light of these worries, as they have become major sources of misinformation and hate speech online. This action plan is supported by the worldwide opinion survey, highlighting the urgent need for strong actions. The action plan outlines the fundamental principles that must be respected and concrete measures to be implemented by all stakeholders associated, i.e., government, regulators, civil society and the platforms themselves. 

The Key Areas in Focus of the Action Plan

The focus area of the action plan is on the protection of the Freedom of Expression while also including access to information and other human rights in digital platform governance. The action plan works on the basic premise that the impact on human rights becomes the compass for all decision-making, at every stage and by every stakeholder. Groups of independent regulators work in close coordination as part of a wider network, to prevent digital companies from taking advantage of disparities between national regulations. Moderation of content as a feasible and effective option at the required scale, in all regions and all languages. 

The algorithms of these online platforms, particularly the social media platforms are established, but it is too often geared towards maximizing engagement rather than the reliability of information. Platforms are required to take on more initiative to educate and train users to be critical thinkers and not just hopers. Regulators and platforms are in a position to take strong measures during particularly sensitive conditions ranging from elections to crises, particularly the information overload that is taking place.

Key Principles of the Action Plan

1. Human Rights Due Diligence: Platforms are required to assess their impact on human rights, including gender and cultural dimensions, and to implement risk mitigation measures. This would ensure that the platforms are responsible for educating users about their rights.
2. Adherence to International Human Rights Standards: Platforms must align their design, content moderation, and curation with international human rights standards. This includes ensuring non-discrimination, supporting cultural diversity, and protecting human moderators.
3. Transparency and Openness: Platforms are expected to operate transparently, with clear, understandable, and auditable policies. This includes being open about the tools and algorithms used for content moderation and the results they produce.
4. User Access to Information: Platforms should provide accessible information that enables users to make informed decisions. 
5. Accountability: Platforms must be accountable to their stakeholders which would include the users and the public, which would ensure that redressal for content-related decisions is not compromised. This accountability extends to the implementation of their terms of service and content policies.

Enabling Environment for the application of the UNESCO Plan

The UNESCO Action Plan to counter misinformation has been created to create an environment where freedom of expression and access to information flourish, all while ensuring safety and security for digital platform users and non-users. This endeavour calls for collective action—societies as a whole must work together. Relevant stakeholders, from vulnerable groups to journalists and artists, enable the right to expression. 

Conclusion

The UNESCO Action Plan is a response to the dilemma that has been created due to the information overload, particularly, because the distinction between information and misinformation has been so clouded. The IPSOS survey has revealed the need for an urgency to address these challenges in the users who fear the repercussions of misinformation. 

The UNESCO action plan provides a comprehensive framework that emphasises the protection of human rights, particularly freedom of expression, while also emphasizing the importance of transparency, accountability, and education in the governance of digital platforms as a priority. By advocating for independent regulators and encouraging platforms to align with international human rights standards, UNESCO is setting the stage for a more responsible and ethical digital ecosystem. 

The recommendations include integrating regulators through collaborations and promoting global cooperation to harmonize regulations, expanding the Digital Literacy campaign to educate users about misinformation risks and online rights, ensuring inclusive access to diverse content in multiple languages and contexts, and monitoring and refining tech advancements and regulatory strategies as challenges evolve. To ultimately promote a true online information landscape.

Reference

• https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/online-disinformation-unesco-unveils-action-plan-regulate-social-media-platforms
• https://www.unesco.org/sites/default/files/medias/fichiers/2023/11/unesco_ipsos_survey.pdf ‍
• https://dig.watch/updates/unesco-sets-out-strategy-to-tackle-misinformation-after-ipsos-survey

Introduction

The Delhi Police on October 23, 2026, stated that six persons, five of them bankers, have been arrested as part of the international cyber fraud syndicate. As per ANI, the accused were said to have laundered the proceeds of crime via cryptocurrency and kept in touch with one Chinese national who was paid in cash. Police claimed that the network has been operational since 2013 with two regional banks in Kerala, but these banks have not been named publicly, and an investigation is on.

One interesting piece of information has come up – the police reportedly said that the group kept the mobile phones that they used in the offence at least five kilometres away from their physical location in order to dodge location tracking. Interestingly, the same report also mentioned the arrest of seven persons by the Ghaziabad Crime Branch in a separate case of a fake motor insurance call centre that accumulated more than Rs 60 lakh by using fake Google Ads, but there appears to be no link to the two cases. All accused persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Why Bankers Matter

"Fraud only benefits when the gains out of the operation can be withdrawn without the fraudster catching the eye of the bank. Evidence indicates that victims are often asked to transfer money into accounts operated by the fraudster, requiring bank accounts to receive a large amount of inflows to be withdrawn without raising suspicion. These accounts are known as mule accounts," reports the I4C.

Delhi Police has met the insider problem before. In October 2025 it arrested five people, including a bank relationship manager who allegedly helped open fake current accounts and leaked internal alerts about complaints and account freezes on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal. The seized material was tied to 52 complaints across at least 12 states. In September 2026, the Special Cell's IFSO unit arrested five people over Rs 12.84 crore taken from the corporate account of Hero FinCorp, among them a relationship manager of a private bank, with part of the money converted into the USDT stablecoin and sent abroad.

Five bankers in a single case, if the allegations hold, would suggest that the compromise was not one rogue employee but a group, and a thirteen year timeline makes a standing arrangement more plausible than an opportunistic one. That is a harder problem for banks than an individual lapse, because the people who design and enforce controls are the ones accused of bypassing them.

From Rupees to Crypto

However, the easy part is that once money is transferred to the mule account, its recovery depends largely on time taken to process the transaction. As per the Delhi Police, which has recently cracked down on a serious syndicate involved in money laundering through bank accounts and hawala channels that converted money into crypto, investigators said an account in the case had reportedly processed over 10,000 transactions worth Rs 5.24 crore over the course of five days.

Another favoured asset could be Tether (USDT), a US dollar-pegged coin used in a similar case and considered popular for its purchase in cash from local agents at a premium and being able to leave the country outside the banking system. In the June 2025 case, police have indicated that the accused maintained a direct Telegram line with a Chinese individual, which would have sent money into China through USDT. The scheme explained that USDT outflows plus cash inflows might be the basis for the Chinese contact to be under investigation.

The Scale of the Problem

Government figures to Parliament show how quickly cyber crime has spiralled. The amount of money lost to cybercrime, which is reported on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and the Citizen Financial Cyber Crime Reporting and Management System, rose to Rs 22,845.73 crore in 2024 from Rs 7,465.18 crore in 2023, up 206%. The number of instances went up to 363,728 from 2,442,978.

While the steps taken have resulted in the saved money, the exact amount saved is not enough to offset the losses. As per the Ministry of Home Affairs, by June 30, 2026, a total of Rs 11,158 crore was saved through more than 32.80 lakh complaints. Since the amount saved is less than half of the losses, which is Rs 6,596,418,870, the actual amount saved from the amount lost in 2024 is different; thus, these figures are not the statistics of how much money was recovered.

Mule accounts seem to be the key. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has informed the government that 4.5 lakh such accounts had been frozen in one year alone. State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Airtel Payments Bank were named as the most common banks in which such accounts were opened. Bank managers and officials who helped set up these accounts are also under investigation, something the recent arrests would also seem to suggest.

How Authorities Are Responding

The Reserve Bank Innovation Hub has designed a machine learning-based model called Mule Hunter.AI that looks for transactional patterns. to detect suspicious accounts more accurately and with far fewer false alarms than many static rules. The government has told the Lok Sabha that the model was currently active in 26 banks and its implementation is under way. This design also aims to offer lower-tier banks some detection ability they would not otherwise have been able to design for themselves, a critical factor as regional lenders face probes in this case.

The pact between I4C and the Innovation Hub was signed in May 2026 to include data from the I4C Suspect Registry in such models. As many as 10,599 arrests had been made till July 2025 in the registry, which was launched on September 10, 2024. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said mule accounts are one of the biggest hurdles in addressing cybercrime. Shah added that the Centre was also planning to bring all banks, even cooperative banks, on to the I4C portal by December 2026.

What Remains Unanswered

The public record is thin. Police have not revealed how much money the syndicate might have deposited, how many victims could be involved, what banks might be caught up in this, or whether the accounts were opened with real customers' documents. The nature of the link to the Chinese national is also unclear.

Furthermore, there is a more fundamental problem. Detection models learn from patterns, but an insider can open accounts that look legitimate and pass along warnings, as alleged in the October 2025 case. Technology therefore has to be paired with ordinary governance: tighter audit of account openings, access logs that show who viewed complaint alerts, separation of duties, and prompt action when an account draws repeated complaints. Experts quoted in reporting on mule networks have urged stricter KYC checks and real-time monitoring for the same reason.

Conclusion

For ordinary account holders, the message is simple. Never let an unknown person use your bank account, whatever the payment offered, because the account may become a link in a laundering chain. Anyone who loses money should report it at once through the helpline 1930 or the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, since quick reporting improves the chance of freezing the funds before they are moved on.

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Executive Summary:

A viral post on social media shared with misleading captions about a National Highway being built with large bridges over a mountainside in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the investigation of the claim shows that the bridge is from  China. Thus the video is false and misleading.

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  Claim:

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A video circulating of National Highway 14 construction being built on the mountain side in Jammu and Kashmir.  

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Fact Check:

Upon receiving the image, Reverse Image Search was carried out, an image of an under-construction road,  falsely linked to Jammu and Kashmir has been proven inaccurate. After investigating we confirmed the road is from a different location that is G6911 Ankang-Laifeng Expressway in China, highlighting the need to verify information before sharing.

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Conclusion:

The viral claim mentioning under-construction Highway from Jammu and Kashmir is false. The post is actually from China and not J&K. Misinformation like this can mislead the public. Before sharing viral posts, take a brief moment to verify the facts. This highlights the importance of verifying information and relying on credible sources to combat the spread of false claims.

• Claim:  Under-Construction Road Falsely Linked to Jammu and Kashmir
• Claimed On: Instagram and X (Formerly Known As Twitter)
• Fact Check: False and Misleading 

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