Teachers, students roped in as Tripura police roll out ‘Cyber Yodha’ campaign

Tripura police launch Cyber Yodha drive involving teachers and students across 157 schools to spread awareness on cybercrime, frauds and online safety

Agartala: Tripura police have roped in school teachers and students for the ‘Cyber Yodha’ drive, aimed at spreading awareness about cybercrime. Launched in South Tripura district in mid-January, the initiative seeks to address rising cyber threats through collaboration between the police and the education sector.

Launched in South Tripura district in mid-January, the initiative seeks to address rising cyber threats through collaboration between the police and the education sector. (Representative photo)

A senior police official said the awareness programme stressed common cybercrimes, including digital fraud, misuse of social media, phishing, digital impersonation, fake messages and calls, and suspicious links, while warning against sharing private information, bank passwords and One-Time Passwords (OTPs) during the workshop.

Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag Dhyankar advised people to contact the national cybercrime helpline number 1930 or lodge complaints through the official cybercrime reporting portal.

Superintendent of Police (SP) of South Tripura district, Mourya Krishna C, said the “Cyber Yodha” initiative was taken to empower teachers and students as ambassadors of cyber safety, involving them in creating awareness about cybercrimes within their schools, families, and communities.

“It will start first in South Tripura district. In each school, there will be a team that will be entrusted with creating awareness about cybercrimes. Preparations to form teams are under process,” the SP said.

Teachers, students take cyber safety message to schools and homes

Over 400 teachers and students from 157 schools in South Tripura district participated in the cybercrime awareness workshop on January 11, which highlighted growing concerns over cyber threats and ways to address them through awareness.

“We came to know about different kinds of cybercrimes happening around us. I plan to discuss these issues in detail with parents during parent-teacher meetings,” said Prasenjit Das, an English teacher at Uttar Bharatchandra Nagar Higher Secondary School in South Tripura, who attended the programme with two students—Shubhankar Kar and Barsha Biswas.

Shubhankar, a Class XI student, shared his experience of receiving a phone call from an unknown person who tried to lure him with a job offer in exchange for ₹5,000. However, he did not entertain the call further. “I shared what I learned with my parents and siblings, such as not sharing OTPs or any valuable data with unknown numbers. We also shared it with other students in school,” said Shubhankar.

Deboleena Saha, an IT teacher at Belonia Government English Medium Higher Secondary School, said, “Being an IT teacher, I have some knowledge about cybercrimes. But we learned more in detail in the workshop. I shared this first with Class IX students. I shall share the same with secondary and higher secondary students after completion of their board examinations.”

Deboleena, who attended the workshop with two Class XI students, Arnab Debnath and Diya Datta, added that she had worked in the district Childline department for one-and-a-half years before joining the school.

“Being tech-savvy in this age, I have a bit of knowledge about online fraud. My father faced such a problem earlier when an unknown number asked him to return ₹20,000 that he (the caller) claimed to have sent to his account by mistake. My father asked me about this, and I told him not to do anything. Later, he found that not a single penny had come into his bank account,” said Arnab.

He added that he shared information about different cybercrimes with his family members and peers and would continue to spread awareness whenever possible.

Rising cybercrime cases in Tripura

DGP Dhyankar said Tripura registered a total of 3,533 cybercrime-related complaints involving fraud amounting to over ₹36 crore last year. Of this, nearly ₹10 lakh was refunded to victims in cases where timely reporting was made to the police.

“Cybercrime is one of the fastest-growing threats to people and governments,” said Dhyankar, who specialises in tackling cybercrime.

During investigations, police found that many such bank accounts were created by duping poor people and obtaining their personal and mobile details, with accounts opened in their names without their knowledge.

According to state police data, Tripura suffered financial fraud losses of ₹1.98 crore in 2021, which rose to ₹4.62 crore in 2022, ₹9 crore in 2023, and ₹25.52 crore in 2024. However, the trend has shown signs of slowing, with financial losses of ₹10.36 crore reported till July 31 last year.

To tackle cybercrime, the state police have taken several steps, including the launch of Tripura’s first dedicated cybercrime police station in June last year.

The Home department had set up a cybercrime unit under the state police crime branch through a notification issued on November 12, 2018. Later, cybercrime cells were constituted at the district level to manage cybercrime-related issues. All major cybercrime complaints registered at police stations are forwarded to the cybercrime unit, with approval from the DGP, for detailed investigation.

A total of 151 officers and 113 personnel trained in handling cybercrime-related cases have been deployed to manage these issues.

Police said Tripura has witnessed common and emerging cybercrime patterns in recent years, including fake gas and power bill scams, investment scams via WhatsApp trading groups, bank fraud through OTP theft, phishing emails, lottery scams, online fraud, and digital arrest cases.