Since its inception in January this year, the cyber cell of the city police has blocked 1,312 transactions and recovered ₹48 crore.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant said the cyber cell team, which operates from the command centre, attended to 3,175 complaints from eight divisions and managed to resolve 1,312 cases by blocking the transactions.
This team works at the city police command centre round the clock in shifts, attending calls and resolving issues related to online frauds within an hour, which is considered the ‘golden hour’, said Mr. Pant.
However, not all complaints are taken up with such alacrity. Last Thursday, a conman posing as an executive of a mobile service provider conned a subscriber, Azamathullah, by convincing him to download an app to update his mobile service. As soon as he downloaded the app and paid ₹10 as a recharge fee, ₹35,500 was debited from his account.
Even though Mr. Azamathullah immediately informed the police control room on 112, provided details and even later filed a formal complaint with the cyber crime police station, the police are yet to act on this case.
Senior police officials say the cell needs to be expanded given the volume of cyber crime being reported every day.
