The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Delhi Police Cyber Cell have launched the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting System. Now victims of cyber fraud can reach out to the reporting system through a helpline number, 155260.
Cyber frauds have risen exponentially in recent years. In 2020, the surge was almost 3 times as compared to 2019, as reported by the MHA in March. The major contributors to online frauds were phishing attacks, One-Time Password (OTP) disclosure, and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) based frauds.
Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting System
This pilot project was an initiative of the MHA and Delhi Police Cyber Cell against online frauds. It started in November 2020 in Delhi. Until now, the Delhi Police Cyber Cell has saved Rs. 3,13,000 for 21 people.
DCP, Aneesh Roy told NBT that this platform was created in interconnection with 55 payment facilitators. It includes banks, e-wallets, e-commerce websites, e-payment gateways, and some other institutions.
DCP Roy also said if anyone faced any online fraud, to immediately call and inform on helpline number 155260. Within 7 to 8 minutes an alert will be issued to the payment platform to which the money has been transferred. The portal/agency will direct the payment platform to freeze the money with them.
Who can report?
As of now, the Contact Citizen service is accessible for the residents of the national capital, Delhi. These services are also available to the residents of Rajasthan. The government is working toward making this service accessible to residents of the remaining states and union territories in the coming months.
Cybercrime.gov.in
Apart from the helpline number, victims of cybercrimes can approach the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. This MHA started this service in August 2019. The objective of this platform is to provide a centralized mechanism to citizens for online reporting of all types of cybercrime incidents. This platform specifically focuses on crimes against women and children like online harassment, child pornography, sextortion, etc.
The complaints submitted on this platform are converted into First Incident Reports (FIRs) and sent to the concerned police station for investigation. The MHA holds regular interactions with various stakeholders and advises them to expedite the disposal of cybercrime complaints.
With the introduction of the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting System, Indians have separate portals to report incidents. Helpline number 155260 for economic cyber frauds and Cybercrime.gov.in for all other incidents including online harassment against women and children.
For a detailed guide on cyber crime reporting, read this guide.
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