Cyber forensic lab, helpline numbers to tackle frauds in Assam; “Need of the hour,” DGP

With an aim to keep cyber fraud in the state in check and help the victims of it, the Assam Government has announced the launch of a 24×7 Cybercrime Helpline number and a Cyber Forensic Lab cum Testing Centre. This was announced by the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma through his Twitter handle yesterday. The Cyber Forensic Lab cum testing centre has been set up at the CID Headquarter as a part of the Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCWC) scheme. The helpline number is 155260 and anybody who’s a victim of cyber fraud may call this number to report within 24 hours of its occurrence.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted, “Cybercrime is a global threat. In a strong step against the menace, today we launched a 24×7 helpline no. 155260 in Assam. Cyber fraud victims may immediately call this number to block further transfer of the lost money and retrieve it. A Cyber Forensic Lab cum Training Centre set up at CID HQ as part of the Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCWC) scheme was also opened today. The lab with state-of-the-art facilities will boost our fight against #cybercrime.”

Also, to arm the administration in battling this menace of cybercrime, Cyber Crime First Responder Kits were distributed among police officers by the DGP of Assam Police, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta at an event yesterday. Regarding this, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted, “As part of our endeavour, ‘Cybercrime first responder kits’ were also distributed among police officers by @DGPAssamPolice. 245 such portable kits procured at Rs 33.16 Crore under MOITRI will be used by Investigating Officers at the crime scenes.”

This initiative will go a long way to ensure security to anyone who might fall prey to cyber fraud as in the past one year, many people all over the state have lost money due to cyber fraud. The Assam Director General of Police (DGP), Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said, “In Assam, a large number of people fall victim to cyber fraud, people lose their entire savings, by the time they report it to police. To tackle this issue, a 24×7 help desk has been set up with helpline number 155260 in CID. This is the need of the hour. Today, we have dedicated the Cyber Forensic Lab cum Training Center and Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting & Management System (helpline no. 155260) to the people of Assam. Cyber Crime First Responder Kits were also distributed to police stations of Police Commissionerate, Guwahati.”

The DGP of Assam Police had also said that the sophisticated laboratory is part of the Cybercrime Prevention Against Women and Children Scheme, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. It’s been set up at the cost of Rs 3,92,99,900 at the CID Headquarters. The Cyber Forensic Lab is equipped with advanced systems, tools and applications to help the police track the culprits of cyber fraud. But he also mentioned that it is necessary for the victim to report the incident at the helpline number within 24 hours of its occurrence, beyond which it might not be possible to track the culprit down or stop the money from getting transferred elsewhere.