Bihar cops target cyber scammers operating from districts like Nalanda

Patna Aug 13 (IANS) On Saturday, cyber criminals tried to dupe a pharma trader in Bihar's Saharsa in the name of the DIG of Saharsa range.

The accused sent a threat message telling the pharma trader -- Suchain Kumar, a resident of Bhartiya Nagar -- about a raid to be carried out at his outlet by the Saharsa DIG for keeping illegal items in his shop. They also sent the copy of the 'notice' on his WhatsApp number.

Suchain, however, did not panic and lodged a complaint with the cyber cell.

This was an incident which reflects how cyber criminals are duping the common people of Bihar and other states.

On August 9, Nalanda police had arrested eight cyber criminals who duped common people of lakhs of rupees using the website of a Central ministry.

The district police also recovered Rs 7.25 lakh in cash, 24 mobile phones, three laptops, 62 SIM cards and a fingerprint cloning machine from their possession.

“The accused made a website of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and duped many people, especially in Nagarnausa, Chandi and other places in Nalanda district,” said Ashok Mishra, SP of Nalanda district.

When it comes to cyber crime, people generally think of Jamtara in Jharkhand, but there are many pockets in Bihar like Nawada, Nalanda, Aurangabad and Jamui where cyber criminals are active and working on the lines of Jamtara scammers.

They have even duped ADGP-rank officers, SHOs and IAS officers in Bihar.

G.S. Gangwar, the ADGP of Bihar Police (Headquarter), said: “We have zero tolerance towards any crime, including cyber frauds. Hence, we have opened 44 cyber police stations in the state. The officers deployed in the cyber police stations are dedicated to deal with cases related to various kinds of cyber crime. Since the opening of the cyber police stations, we have registered over 300 FIRs.

“Cyber crime cases need special focus as the criminals dupe a large number of people. Hence, we have alerted every police station to seriously take notice of such cases.

"Since February 26 this year, we have deployed 150 cyber experts on the National Cyber Crime Reporting helpline number 1930 and have managed to hold over Rs 15 crore, with the assistance of different banks. Such actions were taken due to immediate registration of cases on the helpline number followed by the prompt action of our experts.

"The process of returning the money to the victims is underway. We firmly believe that awareness is the key to stop cyber crime cases. Hence, we have also initiated digital as well as manual campaigns to inform people about cyber crime cases."

The officer also said that the police department is focusing on opening the defunct police stations in the state.