Tech Talk
Vijayawada Police Conducts Mega Cyber Crime Awareness Program
In light of various types of cyber crimes occurring in society, Police Commissioner Sri S.V. Rajasekhar Babu, IPS, under the supervision of Crime DCP Thirumaleshwar Reddy, IPS, has spearheaded a grand plan to create awareness and prevent these crimes rather than only investigating after they happen. The aim is to transform the public into cyber citizens by implementing awareness programs and preventive measures within the Commissionerate.
As part of this effort, an awareness program was conducted today at Siddhartha Women’s College on Bandar Road. The event, which focused on digital arrests, loan app scams, online investment trading scams, and OTP frauds, was attended by Commissioner of Police Sri S.V. Rajasekhar Babu, IPS, as the chief guest.
During the event, Commissioner Rajasekhar Babu spoke about various types of cyber crimes, the importance of the Cyber Citizen Mobile App, the 1930 helpline, the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C). He explained the precautions needed to avoid falling victim to cyber crimes, how to report crimes to the 1930 helpline, and the significance of reporting within the first hour (golden hour) of the incident. The Commissioner also provided guidelines on what evidence to collect and how to present it to investigating officers.
The awareness program also covered fake share trading apps, loan apps, honey traps, Aadhaar-enabled payment systems, online shopping frauds, digital arrests, job frauds, and sextortion scams. The Cyber Citizen App was promoted to educate the public and transform them into cyber citizens. Various measures are being explored to prevent these crimes, including holding meetings with bankers and providing a set of key questions for bank managers to ask during large transactions.
Bank managers were advised to ask customers questions such as:
- Do you personally know the recipient of this transaction?
- Are you being pressured to transfer money under the guise of a digital arrest?
- Have you received a video call claiming to be from CBI, Customs, or Police?
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Recently, a customer who was about to transfer a large sum of money realized he was being scammed when bank officials asked these questions, thereby preventing a crime.
Additionally, technology such as drone cameras is being used to monitor schools and colleges during morning and evening hours to prevent eve-teasing. Live drone footage is being supervised from the command control center to ensure safety.
Commissioner Rajasekhar Babu urged everyone to educate their family members and neighbors about how cyber crimes occur and to transform them into cyber citizens who can protect themselves from various frauds. He emphasized the need to raise awareness to such a level that cyber criminals fear committing crimes in the Vijayawada Commissionerate area. The police are making every effort to involve the community in policing and are planning to introduce a program called “Nagara Suraksha” soon.
The event was attended by Commissioner Rajasekhar Babu, DCPs Thirumaleshwar Reddy, IPS, Maheshwara Raju, IPS, Krishnamurthy Naidu, Ramakrishna, ACPs, Inspectors, college principals Dr. S. Kalpana, Dr. S. Padmaja, Dr. R. Madhavi, Dr. K. Sarala, T. Nagarani, Narasayya, and around 3000 college students.