The News Freedom
Chandigarh, December 19
In a significant stride towards rectifying cybercrime financial frauds, the Cyber Crime Cell of Punjab Police, in collaboration with Punjab State Legal Services, achieved a breakthrough in reimbursing victims. Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab, Gaurav Yadav, announces the successful return of a frozen amount totaling Rs 28.5 lakhs to affected individuals via their respective banks.
“The Cyber Crime Cell, in coordination with Punjab State Legal Services, has initiated the refund process to address the grievances of victims impacted by cyber financial frauds,” said DGP Gaurav Yadav.
The initiative stems from the implementation of the Cyber Helpline 1930, a measure enacted by the Cyber Crime Cell in 2021 to shield citizens from financial losses arising from cybercrime. DGP Yadav highlighted that upon registering complaints through the helpline 1930 or the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS), funds belonging to victims of cybercrime scams were frozen in the accounts of the accused or suspects.
“Till date, as many as 28642 complaints regarding financial frauds were filed on the HELPLINE 1930 in Punjab, acting swiftly on which, the Cyber Cell freezed (debit freeze/lien freeze) an amount of approximately Rs 15.5 crore, which has been lying in the banks,” he said.
The DGP said that to streamline the procedure of refunding the frozen amount, the Cyber Crime Cell has approached the State Legal Services Authority to facilitate the refund to the victim accounts under section 457 of the CrPC through Lok Adalats.
He said that Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Cyber Crime V Neeraja had a meeting with Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia, Executive Chairman of Punjab Legal Services Authority on December 5, 2023, and got the necessary directions issued to all District Legal Service authorities of Punjab on the procedure to be adopted for the refund.
Sharing more details, ADGP V Neeraja said that as a pilot project, Ludhiana Commissionerate Police on December 9, 2023 had submitted 36 case applications on complaints reported on 1930 helpline for refund to the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ludhiana in the Lok Adalat, of which 33 applications were approved by the court and a total amount of Rs 28.5 lakhs were ordered to be released to the accounts of the victims from the concerned banks.
“More applications for refund of the frozen amount of about 6 lakhs in Ludhiana and 11 from Mohali amount of about 15 lakhs is under consideration,” she said, while adding that this process would help so many victims of Cyber Crime Financial frauds from Punjab to reclaim the money lost to fraudsters.
The ADGP said that other districts have also started this process and many applications to release the frozen amount on the lines of the pilot project are under consideration and will be processed very soon.
Meanwhile, the ‘National helpline 1930 and reporting platform’ is the project of the Ministry of Home Affairs to prevent financial loss of the citizens victimised by cyber financial frauds. Helpline 1930 has been receiving Cybercrime fraud calls 24X7 and reporting them to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) for further necessary action by financial intermediaries and banks.