Mumbai: In the wake of frequent cyber crimes happening across the city, the Mumbai Police is encouraging the citizens to think twice before clicking or accessing any unknown and suspicious links, as part of their Cyber Awareness programme.
‘Thodasa Sochle’, which means, think a little, is their new Twitter campaign where the cops are asking the citizens to think a little before surrendering to any links, apps, or any suspicious things that pop on their computer or mobile screen.
In recent statistics provided by the Mumbai Police, it says that this year a total of 2,953 cybercrime cases have been registered in the city from January to July. This, in comparison to 1,632 cases, was registered during the same period last year.
As per the statistics, cases related to online cheating, credit/debit card fraud, obscene emails, SMS, and social media posts, are on the rise.
While interacting with this newspaper, senior police inspector Pradip More, Vakola Police station said, “We get so many cases these days that are related to cybercrime! There are cases where the victims simply access their Facebook accounts and fall into the trap of these frauds. The only thing the citizens can do is to contact any nearby police within the ‘golden hour’. If not for anything, the money you lost, can be saved.”
According to the cyber police, the golden hour prevents victims of cyber fraud from losing their money.
“If you lose your money and realize it, the ‘golden hour’ is activated. If this time onwards one has a safe window of 2 to 4 hours where they can contact a police station, which has a cyber cell, who will register the case and start looking into it,” said a senior police official in the cybercrime unit.
He continued, “This is the time we contact the bank (of the victim) and ask them to freeze the transaction and the account. This prevents losing all the money. Hereafter the investigation to reach the fraud begins. What’s more important for us (and the victims) is to not lose their valuable money.”
Reportedly, the cybercrime units have been able to recover more than 90 percent of complainants’ money due to this concept of the golden hour.
During a previous interaction with Hemraj Rajput, DCP (Cyber), he said the use of technology followed by devices has increased over the years.
“From students to elders, these scams happen to every citizen! With time, the nature of crime has changed. Earlier the kind of fraud was related to KYC documents, but now, since we are surrounded by the digital world – the fraudsters are waiting for an opportunity, all the time,” he said.
According to him, more than 18% of the cybercrime occurring in Mumbai has roots outside Maharashtra. He added that they now have regional police officers who are looking into cases and being part of the investigation from everywhere in the country.
“It’s difficult but not impossible. With more people being aware and reaching out to the police – we are only getting better with time. Our focus is to detect the modus operandi of the fraud and the type of their crime and work on it,” said Rajput.
He continued, “We are open and free to register, and proactively available for assistance through our helpline number: 1930; for the citizens of Mumbai.”
The helpline is functional from 9 am to 6 pm where victims can submit their fraud-related details along with transactions on the phone call. Apart from this, Mumbai Police has a dedicated Cyber Crime wing, where each police station has a cyber cell to curb rising technology-related cases.
As per their website, it says, the cell comprises a police inspector, two sub-inspectors, and two to three constables. Along with this, they arrange cyber awareness programmes and lectures at schools, colleges, institutes, and organizations – and on their social media sites.
