Ghaziabad: The first few minutes after a cyber fraud matter more than the paperwork that follows. Under a new pilot project being implemented in the city, a zero FIR will automatically be generated for cyber frauds involving Rs 5 lakh or more when victims promptly report the crime through the 1930 helpline or National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) of the home ministry.Officials said the move is aimed at ensuring the victim need not visit the police station to lodge a complaint and lose crucial minutes that can otherwise be used to freeze the transaction by fraudsters. “Such delays often give fraudsters the time to move the money through multiple accounts. This makes recovery harder,” an official said.
HOW IT WILL WORKThe moment a victim realises money has been stolen, they must report it through 1930 or NCRP. The central portal will then generate a zero FIR and send it electronically to the Cyber Crime police station in Ghaziabad. The station will register the case under a crime number and begin the probe, removing the need for repeated trips just to get an FIR registered.ADCP (crime) Piyush Singh said the system was being tested in the city first. “The project has been started on a pilot basis in Ghaziabad. If the feedback is satisfactory, the system will be implemented across Uttar Pradesh,” he added.Police sources said the Rs 5 lakh threshold could eventually be reduced to Rs 1 lakh if the trial succeeds, bringing many more victims within its ambit.ONLINE REFUNDS TOOThe govt has also changed the process for returning money that has been frozen or recovered.Earlier, victims often had to coordinate with banks, police and courts to get their own money back. Under the new system, the bank will send an online request through the money restoration portal once the amount is frozen. Police will submit their report online, after which the bank can process the refund. Officials said this should cut out repeated visits to different offices.TRADE FRAUDS ON TOPFrom Jan to June this year, police registered 48 share-trading frauds involving Rs 21.8 crore in total, of which Rs 6 crore was refunded. Seven cases of digital arrest involved Rs 5.3 crore, of which Rs 28.6 lakh was refunded. Twelve task-based frauds were worth Rs 3.2 crore, while two cryptocurrency cases involved Rs 15 lakh. There were also 22 phone hacking or customer care frauds of Rs 2.2 crore, and 25 other cases involving Rs 3.7 crore.38 CASES IN 2 MONTHSThe Cyber Crime police station registered 16 fraud cases in July, 14 in Aug and eight till Sept 9 — 38 in about two and a half months. Police said crores had been lost, while nearly 20% of the cheated amount refunded.STAY ALERT, STAY SAFESingh urged residents, especially senior citizens, to avoid schemes promising unusually high returns. Police advised using only official platforms for share trading, ignoring unknown links and staying away from online “task” jobs promising easy money.There is also no such thing as a “digital arrest”, Singh said. “Anyone who is being threatened by someone posing as an officer should disconnect the call immediately and inform us,” he added.Above all, police urged victims not to wait: reporting through 1930 or NCRP at once can give authorities a chance to freeze the money before it moves further.
