Cyber crime not just about financial fraud, senior citizens, women & children being targeted through gaming & apps: Gujarat DGP

Referring to the recent incident of the alleged suicide of three young siblings in Ghaziabad, Rao said, “(Cyber crime) is not just about financial frauds but there are at least 18-20 ways of committing cyber crime… their target groups are senior citizens, women and children in gaming; you may have read in the recent news about three sisters in Ghaziabad. They were used to so much screen time and followed Korean dramas.. they jumped from the 8th floor… this is a form of addiction to screen time, mobile phone and cyber criminals… these are all linked… We have to create awareness.”

Rao also spoke about instances of “cyber slavery”, in which agents lure unsuspecting youth to travel to countries for ‘work’, where they are confined and forced to commit cyber crimes. “In the coming days cyber crime will increase… digital arrest, senior citizens being fleeced and intimidated. In some cases, cyber criminals are successful as the complaints are not made in the golden hour on the helpline… By the time the victims realise, the golden hour is over,” Rao said, adding that the “best way to minimize or tackle cyber crime is to be quick to report the case as the police can stop payment gateways and freeze the fleeced amount in time… In some cases, heavy financial loss due to cyber fraud has also resulted in suicides.”

Rao said that the jurisdictional issues complicate cyber crime investigations. “Investigating cyber crime is tough… crime is committed from outside the country, money goes to a person in another country and the complaint is registered in a different place…There are jurisdictional, procedural and legal problems. Not all banks are proactive and helpful as some other banks. We face trouble coordinating with banks and nodal officers…”

Speaking about the initiatives of the Gujarat police, Rao added that the Gujarat police is aiming to increase its 1930 helplines from 90 to 180 in the coming days to allow retrieval of “45-50 per cent funds” the golden hour.

On Saturday, Rao also inaugurated the zonal office of the Anti Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) in Vadodara and said, “Even in narcotics control, we are keeping the citizens together to crack down. ANTF has been created and the zonal office of Vadodara will be inaugurated today. The main aim is to control narcotics.”

Rao also stated that the Gujarat police had completed the recruitment of 10,000 candidates and allotted 1000 Lok Rakshak Dal jawans to Vadodara city. Addressing the issue of the recent suicides in the police department, Rao said that the Gujarat police had begun training for personnel and also counselling for relieving stress by involving NGOs in the matter.

Jan Rakshak ERSS: Vadodara tops in response time

In a presentation made by the ERSS at the crime conference in Vadodara, it emerged that the Vadodara City Police has topped the chart across the state for the response time to calls received on the 112 emergency number.

“Vadodara city has the fastest response time of 7.23 minutes, as compared to all other police commissionerates or district units in the state, despite having resource crunch and low number of PCR vans. This was much appreciated by the DGP,” Commissioner of Police Narasimha Komar told this newspaper.

At present, Vadodara has 30 Jan Rakshak vans under its administrative control while the operational control of the vans rests with the state emergency response centre.