Team Herald
PANJIM: The Cyber Crime Cell of Goa Police has warned people about increasing cyber frauds and appealed to them to call on the financial fraud helpline 1930.
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SP (Cyber Crime) Rahul Gupta on Saturday stated that Cyber Crime Cell has seized and saved Rs 3.73 crore money that was defrauded from various victims across the State.
The Cyber Crime portal and helpline together saved Rs 6.73 crore online fraud money between July 2022 till date. He explained various types of frauds including loan app fraud, child kidnapping fraud and warned people not to fall prey and avoid greed as Cyber criminals exploit people’s desire for quick and substantial financial gains.
SP Gupta said, “Through the 1930 helpline, we have frozen Rs 3.73 cr as of now, of which Rs 2.71 cr was frozen this year. For complaints reported directly on the cybercrime portal, the total frozen amount stands at around Rs 3 cr and thus the total money frozen was Rs 6.73 cr. This is money that we have saved from going into the hands of fraudsters. Currently, we are working on simplifying the process of returning the frozen amount to the victims.
There are many kinds of cyber frauds such as FedEx scam, investment fraud, loan app fraud, child kidnapping/arrest fraud, OLX/Quickrfraud, bank APK fraud, utility issue or E-challanbill payment fraud, etc.
According to SP Gupta, many victims were not aware that there was a cyber crime helpline number functional in the State to report any kind of financial fraud. Goa Police have a 24×7 helpline at 1930 set up in our Police Control Room. There is a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in place detailing what information to obtain from the victim. Thereafter, the details are submitted to the Cyber Crime reporting portal, and the process of freezing accounts starts. Complainants start receiving messages on their mobile phones about the freezing, he informed.
Thereafter, complainants have to visit the local Police Station or Cyber Police Station for further investigation and to start the process of recovering their money. Financial frauds involving amounts below Rs five lakh are referred to the local police station, while those above Rs five lakh are taken up at the Cyber Police Station.
For victims comfortable with reporting their complaint online, they can file a complaint on cybercrime.gov.in. This portal is not just for financial fraud but also for all kinds of cyber crimes, including social media-related cases. Such cases can also be reported on cybercrime.gov.in.
