A web-portal for Prime Minister Scholarship program 2019, a court checker application, and a website to make online applications for PAN cards, are some of the phishing portals blocked by the new anti-phishing portal ( https://www.reportphishing.in/) introduced by the Maharashtra cyber department in March.

Till mid-June, the portal received a total of 218 complaints and has managed to take action against 197 phishing portals, mobile numbers used for vishing calls, fake matrimonial profiles, etc.

Of the 6,199 cyber-crime cases across Maharashtra, between 2016 and 2018, only 1,169 cases have been detected so far with the detection percentage being 18.85%.

At a time when the police department is struggling to detect cyber-crimes with over 80% remaining undetected, the Maharashtra cyber department came up with the idea to start the anti-phishing portal so the hundreds of phishing and vishing attempts can be nixed in time.

Of the 218 complaints, 21 were not relevant and in 197 cases, the anti-phishing portal took action by getting in touch with the respective network service provider, social media platform or search engines and alerting them to the misuse of their sites.

“We are getting in touch with various service providers, banks, government departments and social media companies for better coordination so that complaints received on the portal by will be quickly relayed to them and immediate action can be initiated from their side,” said Brijesh Singh, special inspector general, Maharashtra cyber.

However, with less publicity among the masses, the number of complaints on the portal is declining and there need for more awareness.

Dr Balsing Rajput, superintendent, Maharashtra cyber, said, “There is a need for creating more awareness on our portal. At present, we are using social media and various awareness events to publicise it. We are planning more measures to publicize it as it is an effective way to curb and prevent cyber-crime.”

First Published: Jun 24, 2019 14:15 IST