Cyber crime cases where the extent of loss is up to Rs. 5 lakh will be investigated by the local police, who until now probed only those frauds where damage was limited to up to Rs. 1 lakh. In the past, any e-crime exceeding Rs. 1 lakh was referred to the cyber crime cell.
This decision was made to ease the burden of the four cyber crime police stations in the State.
But can the local police effectively probe cases of phishing and other instances of cyber crime? Critics say this is a moot point as most police personnel are not equipped with the skills to track hackers and cyber frauds.
A police inspector in the city said that in phishing and other skimming cases, the banks insist on an FIR. “There are cases registered even for a loss of Rs. 500 or Rs. 800, which needs to be probed and reports submitted to courts. Trails in these cases lead to either other Metros or even abroad. How can the local police who are already burdened with a huge number of responsibilities be asked to probe into these cases?” he asked
Another senior official said that local stations were already burdened with scams below the Rs. 1-lakh limit. Now we have to probe cases of up to Rs 5 lakh, he said. “On an average, each of our stations has over 50 cases of phishing with extent of loss below Rs. 1 lakh. With the limit being increased, this number will only increase. We don’t have the resources or the expertise to solve them,” the official conceded.
This order will also only mean less focus on cyber crimes where extent of loss is less than Rs. 5 lakh. The track record of the cyber crime police in the state is not great either. It is a known fact that to date, cyber cops have been unable to get any of those accused in phishing cases convicted.
Reporting by
K.V. Aditya Bharadwaj
