Guwahati, June 28: In the wake of exponential rise in financial frauds through phone calls and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) platforms, Assam Police have come up with a 24×7 helpline number that won’t just take complaints, but will also intervene on time.
The helpline number 155260 opened under the “Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud reporting & Management System” of the Crime Investigation Department of the state police force will not only take complaints over financial fraud, but will also coordinate with the concerned banks or the UPI platforms and block the transaction if the payment has not been made already.
Launching the helpline number on Monday, Assam DGP, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said, “A large number of people lose money due to financial cyber frauds, but by the time police receives the information, it becomes late to block the amount as the defrauded money already reaches the fraudsters. In view of the above constraint, the 24×7 help desk has been set up with the CID.”
The aim is to intervene before the transaction is already completed by the bank or the UPI platforms. The victim would have to call the helpline number and provide their details such as name, mobile phone number linked to the UPI platform, name of bank, wallet or merchant from which amount has been debited, transaction ID and date etc following which, the help desk operators will immediately upload the details on the “Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud reporting & Management System” and get in touch with the concerned bank or wallet or merchant, which will also be part of the network, and block the transaction if the money has not left the system already.
After this, an automatic message would be generated and sent to the complainant to lodge formal complaint at www.cybercrime.gov.in. within 24 hours and the case will be followed up by the department for further investigation.
Cyber Forensic Lab cum Training Center and Cyber Crime First Responders Kits (Sub-Head)
Along with the helpline number, the Assam DGP also inaugurated a Cyber Forensic Lab cum Training Center and Cyber Crime First Responders Kits for the Police force.
The laboratory is part of the CCPWC (Cybercrime Prevention Against Women and Children) Scheme, under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) at the cost of Rs.3,92,99,900 at Assam CID headquarters in Guwahati, Assam.
Mahanta said, the Cyber Forensic Lab is equipped with the Cyber Forensic tools, disk forensics, GPS forensics, malware analyzer, Mobile Forensic and various other applications for extraction, imaging, data recovery, password recovery and analysis of digital devices that would help in order to ensure proper collection and preservation of digital evidence related to cyber-crime and its in-depth analysis in line with the provisions of relevant laws.
Further, the Lab also has a training facility with 25 work stations to impart training to police personnel on cybercrime investigation.
The Cyber Crime First Responders Kits have been launched at a whopping Rs. 33,16,55,520 under the MOITRI (Mission of Overall Improvement of Thana for Responsive Image) Scheme.
As part of the project, a kit each costing Rs.13,53,696 would include mobile forensic tools, forensic data preview and imaging tool, one laptop, high speed SSD drive-256GB, two numbers of external hard drive, digital camera, forensic media card reader, anti-static bags and many other tools. They will be distributed to 245 police stations with high reporting of cyber-crime cases.
“For the use of these kits, one week-long hands-on training for 25 police officers per batch in 10 batches will be imparted by a team of experts from Mumbai. The training of first batch has already been commenced from today (Monday),” Mahanta informed.
