To help mitigate rising Cyber crimes

Cyber crimes continue to play havoc for the city’s police department as the number of cases keeps on rising.

As per the city’s police department, the number of registered cyber-crime cases in the city has been steadily rising over the past few years. 

For instance, in the last calendar year (2022) the city reported a total of 613 cybercrimes cases amounting to a whopping Rs 16 crores (Rs 16,18,50,435 to be precise).

Similarly for this calendar year (up till April 2023) the department had registered 168 cases amounting to Rs 7 crores (Rs 7,18,12,050 to be precise).

‘As fraudsters become more sophisticated in their modus operandi so do we have to pull up our socks. It is therefore that we have been working on developing a cyber lab that will effectively help our department in addressing and tackling cyber frauds. 

We have already identified the necessary software and hardware for the lab and shall unveil it soon’ said Vizag’s Police Commissioner Dr CM Thrivikram Varma, IPS speaking exclusively to Vizag Industrial Scan.

The police commissioner further informed that the department is now equipped with a modern and robust social media team that is aggressively monitoring and addressing any negative publicity.

As per Vizag cyber-crime, CI Mr. Bhavani Prasad most of the reported cyber-crimes pertain to financial fraud such as cryptocurrency, online betting, job scams, instant loans, etc. Social media crimes such as cyber stalking and cyber bullying where typically women are the victims are also on the rise he said.

It is estimated that on average the city’s cyber crime cell sees about 20 cases being registered per day(Unregistered cases are projected to be at least 10 times this no).

In helping deal with the cyber menace Dr. Thrivikram also welcomed the industry to give any suggestions/inputs that can help in addressing the cyber-crime menace.

Cyber Crime Helpline

Cybercrime victims can immediately call 1930 once they know that they have been a victim of cybercrime. Similarly, they can also report the fraud to the National Cyber-crime reporting portal (NCRP) i.e. https://i4c.mha.gov.in/index.aspx.

Speaking on the IT companies situated in the IT SEZ area in Madhurwarda the city’s police commissioner said that the department has been taking necessary measures for the safety of employees particularly women in that area.

‘There are about 30-40 firms operating in that area employing over 3000 people and we have increased our patrolling for the safety of employees’ said Dr Thrivikram.

The city’s police commissioner however lauded Vizag’s industry for being law-abiding citizens and working peacefully.