Dedicated helpline in offing for quick action

With an increasing trend in the number of credit/debit card frauds being registered with the cyber police stations and the cyber cell of Mumbai police, the plan to start a dedicated helpline is likely to come handy for victims falling prey to debit/credit card scams. Presently, victims either visit the nearest police station or complain on the Mumbai police’s Twitter handle, which then takes over the issue. The idea of a helpline is to immediately assist and act as soon as the victim is intimated about the fraud that affected him/her.

The detection rate of city’s cyber crime is depressing, with hardly 16 per cent being detected till May-end this year. Of the total 498 cases registered in the first six months of 2019, only 75 have been solved, says Mumbai cyber police’s data. Meanwhile, last year, the city police received 1,362 complaints of cyber crime and solved 260, which makes up for only 19.1 per cent.

An official from the cyber police, requesting anonymity, said, “With an increasing number of cyber crimes related to credit/debit card frauds, it is time a dedicated helpline is started, and the plan to do so has been in the pipeline for a while. However, its implementation may take few months as all related parties and stakeholders need to be trained and informed.” He further said the rising number of cases is encouraging more people to register their complaints.

When asked, cyber expert Haren Das opined that such a dedicated helpline can prove to be an asset in cracking the card fraud cases and lead to an increase, otherwise dipping, in the detection rate.