Haryana Police Identifies About 28,000 Phone Numbers Being Misused for Cybercrimes

About 28,000 mobile phone numbers being misused for committing cybercrimes have been identified and they will be blocked soon, a senior Haryana Police officer said on Thursday.

The 27,824 phone numbers were identified through cybercrime helpline number 1930 and complaint portal cybercrime.gov.in, Additional Director General of Police (Crime) O P Singh said.

The details of these numbers have been sent to the field units for getting them uploaded on the CyberSafe portal operated by the India Cyber Crime Coordination Centre under the Union home ministry in order to block them, the senior police officer said.

Accoring to Singh, Gurugram (7,142), Faridabad (3,896), Panchkula (1,420), Sonipat (1,408), Rohtak (1,045), Hisar (1,228) and Ambala (1,101) were among the districts with the maximum number of mobile numbers used for committing cybercrimes.

In a communication to all district nodal officers for cybercrimes, Singh urged them to upload mobile numbers being misused for committing cybercrimes on the CyberSafe portal.

The field units have also been called upon “to carry out IMEI linkage analysis through the mobile handset being used to operate these numbers, find out other mobile numbers being used by the handset and upload these numbers on CyberSafe for their blocking by the Department of Telecommunications".

Cumulatively, over 47,000 complaints of cybercrimes till September this year have been reported on helpline number 1930 and 29 cyber police stations, and 309 cyber desks in territorial police stations across the state.

Police have also recovered and returned more than Rs. 15 crore of defrauded money to the victims, Singh said.

October is being observed as National Cyber Security month, he said.

To spread awareness about cybersecurity tips like recognising and reporting phishing, using strong passwords, keeping software updated, using multi-factor authentication and reporting cyber frauds and harassment, the Haryana Police has from October 1-25 organised 2,526 mass engagement programmes attracting 19.7 lakh people.

Through social media, the Haryana Police reached out to another 26.7 lakh people, taking the total to 46.4 lakhs, which one out of five people living in the state, Singh said.

"We are confident to cross the 50-lakh mark in the remaining four days. The resultant heightened awareness is finding reflection in increase in the number of per day reporting of cybercrime to 1930," Singh said.