Haryana Police to set up cyber response centres in every district: DGP

Haryana Police has decided to create cyber response centres (CRCs) in every district of the state to effectively tackle cyber offences, Director General of Police (DGP) Manoj Yadava said here on Thursday.

He said these CRCs would be created keeping in view the emerging challenges and increasing cyber threats owing to digitisation.

All cyber-related complaints regarding bank frauds, misuse of payment gateways etc would be dealt with in these centres, which would be created within the existing cyber cells of the state police, he added.

The DGP said the spread of coronavirus led to a surge in cybercrime as fraudsters started exploiting the situation and the uncertainty generated by the pandemic to target individuals and enterprises.

"These CRCs will be created and strengthened with deployment of specialised cyber personnel. The services of recently recruited sub-inspectors and constables, who are tech-savvy, will be utilised for this purpose," he said.

Police would visit resident welfare associations, colleges, schools, residential colonies etc to educate people about prevention of cybercrimes and associated precautions.

In addition, cyber security awareness programmes will also be started to save children from cyber bullying, cyber stalking etc, the DGP said.

He said Haryana Police would soon be upgrading its network as the state government had recently approved six new cybercrime police stations, one each at Rohtak, Hisar, Karnal, Ambala, Rewari and Faridabad.

These will be in addition to the two existing cybercrime police stations at Panchkula and Gurgaon, the officer said.

The DGP also informed that a new trend of cybercrime has come to the fore in which fraudsters 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. 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.

(Photo Credit for representation: PTI)