Nuh cybercrime hotspots halve after task force crackdown, say police

Police said FIRs, arrests and seizures rose sharply during the crackdown, with a special task force acting on alerts generated through the Centre’s platform.

Cybercrime hotspots linked to Nuh on the centre’s Pratibimb application have dropped from 1,783 in March to 839 as of Saturday, a decline of 52.9% over the past four months, with police attributing the reduction to sustained enforcement by a special cybercrime taskforce constituted earlier this year.

Police said arrests increased 56.41% and FIRs 82.69% during April to June, with continuous monitoring of alerts and field verification of suspects. (HT)

According to Nuh police, the number of hotspots fell to 1,398 in April, a decline of 21.6%, and further dropped to 1,051 in May, down another 24.8%. Till Saturday, the application recorded 839 hotspots, marking a further 20.2% decline.

Police said the task force has been monitoring alerts generated through the Centre’s Pratibimb application and conducting raids based on technical inputs. Officials said when a cyber fraud victim registers a complaint on the national cybercrime portal or the 1930 helpline, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre analyses the details and alerts the district police where the suspect is believed to be operating, sharing location and contact details to facilitate field verification and raids.

YVR Sashi Shekhar, additional superintendent of police, Nuh, said close supervision of every alert generated by the application led to the decline in cybercrime activity. “On every alert received, the taskforce develops technical and human intelligence to carry out raids after field verification on the suspects and arrest them after registering an FIR for cheating and forgery. Continuous follow-ups are also taken on every case to ensure suspects are not granted bail and chargesheets are filed as soon as possible by completing the investigation,” he said.

The taskforce was constituted on the directions of Arpit Jain after he took charge as Nuh SP earlier this year following his transfer from Gurugram, where he served as DCP (headquarters).

Police said that compared with January to March, FIR registrations in cybercrime cases during April to June increased by 82.69%, arrests rose by 56.41%, SIM card seizures by 137.8% and confiscation of mobile devices by 139.68%.

Jain said every actionable input received through the Pratibimb Portal is being closely monitored. “This crackdown will continue until Nuh is no longer identified as a cybercrime hotspot amid law enforcement agencies across the country,” he said.

To be sure, “hotspots” refer to specific locations flagged on the Pratibimb application from where one or more suspected cybercriminals are believed to be operating. The figures represent flagged locations, not the number of suspects, devices or mobile numbers.

“Enhanced enforcement reflects the task force’s proactive strategy of identifying cyber criminals, dismantling their operational networks and ensuring swift legal action,” Jain said. “Cyber policing is no longer reactive but intelligence-driven and technology-enabled, and consistent monitoring, rapid intervention and coordinated enforcement have helped disrupt cybercrime networks,” he added.