The Gujarat Police has launched an online platform that will nab cyber criminals by coordinating with law enforcement agencies across India. The initiative will focus on cybercrimes with any link related to the state that covers victims as well as perpetrators.
In the past 18 months, there has been a continuous increase in cybercrimes in Gujarat, as per the state crime data. The state has witnessed a rise in digital crimes related to fake online job offers, OTP thefts and insurance frauds. Since such crimes have kept the state police on its toes in the past year, it has now decided to deal with these in an organised manner.
Under the novel procedure, customer care fraud, fake job offers, insurance scams, social media bullying, cheating on e-commerce sites, spurious gift offers, and sim card swaps will be traced.
This way, Gujarat cybercrime team will now proactively seek cooperation from their counterparts across the country to deal with such e-crimes. Further, police officers across the state working on any case related to cyber crime can access Gujarat Police's portal (Cyber Nodal) and lodge an investigation cooperation request for cybercrime fraud.
“Any further cybercrime reported across the country with a link to Gujarat will now be probed by the cyber cell experts. As per the new mechanism to report any cyber crime, first, report the mobile tower locations on the portal and thereafter, an investigation cooperation request can be lodged on the portal by law enforcement agencies. The portal will ensure proper monitoring of cases and timely communication on action-taken reports,” said the state home department.
After being notified about any cyber crime on the new portal, the Gujarat Police can arrest the accused following verification of the locations of mobile phones. Further, the request for cooperation in an investigation needs to be sent with the endorsement of an SP-rank officer of the district concerned.
