In view of the surge in cyber crime cases, Haryana Police has decided to create Cyber Response Centers (CRCs) in every district to effectively tackle such cases in the state.

Disclosing this on Thursday, Director General of Police (DGP) Haryana, Manoj Yadava said all the cyber related complaints regarding bank frauds, misuse of payment gateways and social media etc would be dealt with in these centers.

He said these CRCs will be created keeping in view the emerging challenges and increasing threats owing to the digitisation and rapid modernisation by enlarging the existing cyber cells.

The DGP said that the spread of Coronavirus had seen a surge in cyber crime cases as fraudsters started exploiting the given situation and uncertainty generated by the pandemic to target the individuals and enterprises.

These CRCs would be created and strengthened with deployment of specialized cyber personnel. The services of recently recruited Sub-Inspectors and Constables, who are tech-savvy, would be utilised for this purpose.

Police would visit Resident Welfare Associations, colleges, schools, colonies etc to educate people about prevention of cyber crime and associated precautions.

In addition, cyber security awareness programmes would also be started to save children from cyber bullying, cyber stalking etc, Yadava said.

The DGP said Haryana Police will soon be upgrading its network of cyber crime as the State government had recently approved six new cyber crime police stations, one each at Rohtak, Hisar, Karnal, Ambala, Rewari and Faridabad.

These will be in addition to the two existing cyber crime police stations presently at Panchkula and Gurugram. Addition of more cyber police stations will help us to keep the cyber frauds on their knees and identify technology-based crime effectively.

The DGP also informed that a new trend of cyber crime came to fore in which fraudsters could try to hack or create fake profiles of prominent celebrities as well as politicians on social media platforms to cheat people. “We need to be more cautious and careful from such fraudsters. Many online scamsters are using fake accounts of celebrities to extract money from people.

Citizens should be alert and not blindly trust content posted on various social media accounts. Alertness helps in preventing users from falling prey to any scam”, he added.

Meanwhile, Haryana’s Special Task Force (STF) have recovered over 331 kilogram of ganja being smuggled in a tractor-trolley from Chhattisgarh to Uttar Pradesh in Palwal district. Three persons have been arrested in connection with the case.