Haryana intensifies fight against cybercrime

Trains 345 officers, aims to set up cyber desks at all police stations.

The Haryana police have recently trained 345 officers of the state crime branch to intensify its fight against the growing issue of cybercrime.

Earlier, in October 2021, the cyber desks were set up in 309 police stations after observing the difficulties victims of cybercrimes faced in reporting their complaints. According to sources, efforts are being made to equip all 361 of the state’s police stations with cyber desks.

While underlining the need to report such frauds immediately to the police, Haryana Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) (crime),  OP Singh, said: “If you are an internet user, do take time out to know about ‘1930’. It is a toll-free cyber crime helpline run by the union home ministry through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP).”

“The NCRP provides an integrated platform where all stakeholders like law enforcement agencies, banks, financial intermediaries, payment wallets work in tandem to block the flow of money from the account of the victims to that of fraudsters”, he said.

Giving an insight on how things work, OP Singh said, “All calls made on the helpline from Haryana are received by five telephone lines at the cyber police station in Panchkula. The officers attending these calls take three actions – take all relevant details from the caller, inform the financial intermediaries through the NCRP portal to block the flow of defrauded money and finally send the complaint to the jurisdiction police station to register an FIR and carry out a criminal investigation.”

“The earlier the crime is reported, the greater is the chance of the money being recovered and the criminal being caught,” the ADGP added.

The state crime branch also has a state-of-the-art cyber forensic laboratory to provide necessary technical assistance to the investigating officers of cybercrime.

Since October 2021, all stations have registered 214 cases of cybercrime, arrested 35 offenders and recovered Rs 42.2 lakhs of online frauds.

Haryana police observe the first Wednesday of every month as Cyber Crime Awareness Day. On this day, field units organise engagement programs to make people aware of the latest modus operandi being adopted by cyber-thugs and precautions that they need to take to avoid falling prey to them.

In the last two months, some 600 teachers have been trained in the basics of cyber security with the aim that they would, in turn, sensitise children about the threats posed by online predators, OP Singh said.

The state crime branch also operates a Twitter handle with the user name @HaryanaCyber whereby “it seeks to inform people about the latest modus operandi being adopted by cybercriminals and responds to calls for help from the victims of cybercrime”.