Cyber clubs to be set up in villages across central zone

They will spread awareness of different types of internet crimes among the public

Amid growing instances of gullible public falling victims to internet fraudsters, police have decided to form cyber clubs at the village level across nine districts in central zone.

The latest initiative will rope in youth with engineering and computer background to operate village police cyber clubs set up int mother villages. The selected youth at each club will be made members of Telegram, a popular and cross-platform messaging app, thus ensuring online connectivity for them. Telegram groups are being created in all districts falling under the central zone.

The convenor of the cyber clubs will be connected to the cyber crime wing created by police in all districts. The wing is headed by a senior officer in the rank of Additional Superintendent of Police in each district. The idea is to form one club in each mother village, which comprises several hamlets under its fold, says Inspector General of Police, Central Zone, V. Balakrishnan.

The central zone accounts for more than 3,000 mother villages, according to police data.

Whenever there is a spike in cyber crimes, the State Cyber Crime Unit periodically sends alerts to districts to caution the general public not to get duped by online fraudsters. The awareness messages will be shared with the Telegram groups so that they can spread it at the grassroots and advise people to remain cautious and not fall victims to online criminals operating from unknown destinations, says Mr. Balakrishnan.

The plan is have cyber club members conduct awareness meetings at a common venue in the villages every Saturday, Mr. Balakrishnan said.

The members will talk about the different types of online fraud and crimes and appeal to the gathering to desist from sharing vital personal details to unknown persons calling over the phone or sending messages through social media platforms. They will also touch upon contemporary cyber crimes and modus operandi of the fraudsters to cheat the public and the need to remain extremely cautious while dealing with phone calls and online messages.

The idea behind the initiative is to have two-way exchange of information — from the people about phoney calls and messages received by them and the other to drive home awareness messages about online fraud, Mr. Balakrishnan said.

Police sources say about 40 cases have been registered in cyber crime police stations in different districts in the zone. Twelve cases have been booked in Tiruchi district and eight in Thanjavur.

Cyber crimes that have come to the attention of law enforcers through petitions received from the general public include vishing — a fraudulent practice of making phone call claiming to be from reputed firms and inducing individuals to divulge personal information such as debit and credit card details — phishing, crypto currency fraud; internet banking/UPI fraud and fake websites.