44 cyber police stations functional from today

Cybercrime victims can lodge their complaints personally, through email or sent their complaints through postal service.

A total of 44 new dedicated cyber police stations, one in each of the 38 districts in the state, besides in two police and four rail districts, went functional on Friday, officials familiar with the matter said.

During the inauguration of the Patna Cyber Police Station on Friday. (Santosh Kumar/Ht Photo)

Cybercrime victims can lodge their complaints personally, through email or sent their complaints through postal service. “If the victim is a woman or a child, police would visit their places to probe the incident. They will not be summoned to the police station,” said an official, who did not wish to be named.

Additional director general (ADG) of police (economic offence unit) N H Khan said cybercrime has increased significantly in Bihar post-Covid 19 pandemic. “Keeping this in mind, the state government approved cyber police station in all the districts. The EoU, which is functioning as a cyber nodal agency, has saved ₹7 crore after receiving complaints on helpline number 1930 during the first three months of this year. As many as 600 FIRs were registered during this period,” Khan said.

As per official data, in 2022, Bihar Police registered 1,500 cybercrime cases. Till May 31 this year, police have registered 1,200 cases. At present, more than 1,500 calls are received on 1930 daily in the state.

The phenomenal increase in use of computers, smartphones and the internet in recent times has also led to a sharp rise in cases of cyber frauds, the ADG said.

Cybercrimes prevalent in the state include email frauds, mobile app related crimes, ransom, net banking/ATM frauds, insurance fraud, lottery scam, bitcoin and sextortion, among others.