Tracing cyber fraudsters still a challenge for cops

Dhenkanal: Odisha Police launched Cyber Safety Campaign in a bid to make people aware of various facets of cyber crime.

Dhenkanal MLA Sudhir Kumar Samal, Collector Saroj Kumar Sethi, SP Gyanranjan Mohapatra, Zilla Parishad president Archana Puhana and DFO Sumit Kumar Kar flagged off the Cyber Safety Campaign vehicle at Dhenkanal Mini stadium on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. Prior to Gandhi Jayanti, the Collector and the SP held a press conference raising awareness and educating citizens to protect themselves from falling victim to cyber fraudsters.

People lose lakhs of rupees due to cyber fraud. In most cases, it becomes difficult to recover the lost money and chances of arrest of fraudsters are also remote. An officer not below the rank of an Inspector is authorised to investigate cyber crime.

In one case, the wife of a Central government officer had lodged a complaint at Dhenkanal Town Police station regarding cyber fraud but the complaint was not received by the police. Her husband then lodged a complaint at Cuttack cyber police station but neither the lost amount of Rs 30,000 was recovered nor the culprit arrested.

In another case, the mobile number of the Additional District Magistrate was hacked by a cyber criminal and a message was sent to one Prabhat Kumar Behera for buying home appliances worth Rs 63,000. Prabhat, who has an acquaintance with the ADM, was requested to pay Rs 20,000 in advance. Initially, Prabhat was confused and sent Whatsapp message to the person concerned. But later, in the midst of busy hours, Prabhat sent Rs 20,000 on PhonePe. After receiving the payment, the cyber criminal deleted all the messages shared with Prabhat. The ADM later said that his Facebook ID was hacked.

Additional SP Suryamani Pradhan admitted that four to five cyber fraud cases are reported in every police station every month in Dhenkanal. He also admitted that nobody has been arrested. Money has been recovered only in a few cases, he said.

In many cases, detecting the cyber fraudsters becomes difficult as they operate from Jharkhand. SP Gyanranjan Mohapatra said all police officers are not trained to deal with cyber crimes. Cyber Safety Campaign has been launched to create awareness on not falling victims to cyber fraud, he said.