BHUBANESWAR: Despite massive awareness campaigns by police and banks, a number of internet users continue to fall victim to cyber attacks in the state.
While reviewing the performance of the newly established cyber help desk in the city, commissioner of police Sudhanshu Sarangi found that unidentified cyber crooks cheated people of nearly Rs 1.14 crore across the state in the past one month.
The cyber help desk was set up here on January 7 to provide assistance to victims. Though the help desk's jurisdiction is limited to Bhubaneswar, cops have been receiving calls from across the state.
"We received over 1,200 complaints from different districts in the past one month. At least 370 were from Bhubaneswar. All of the callers lost money to cyber criminals. Those who called the help desk within one hour (golden hour) from the time of being cheated got back portions of their money," Sarangi said.
A police source said the cyber help desk has so far managed to recover nearly Rs 7 lakh in different cases.
The police have blocked 240 SIM cards that were used by the tricksters to make calls to the victims. However, tracing and arresting the digital thieves continue to be a tough task for police.
During review, police found the bulk of the victims were tricked after they clicked malicious links and cashback offers following UPI transactions. Police said awareness among internet users is key to prevent such offences.
"Many people looked for different online services and relied on Google search engine. Without verifying the authenticity of the portals, they filled in forms and shared their details. They were later asked to click links sent to their mobile phones for confirmation. The unsuspecting people ended up losing money soon after they clicked the malicious links," Sarangi said.
The commissionerate police urged leading IT firms to collaborate with banks and help police in tackling cycbercrimes as part of their corporate social responsibility. The police saidf a proposal was sent to the government to set up a dedicated cyber polcie station in Bhubaneswar. While altogether 124 cycbercrime cases were registered in Bhubaneswar in 2019, the figure stood at 123 in 2020.