Victim of cyber crime? Here’s why ‘golden hour’ matters

Every police station in Mumbai has a cyber cell to deal with the crime. Representation pic

The Golden Hour appears to be the new magic mantra to prevent victims of cyber fraud from losing their money. The city's Cyber Crime units have been able to recover more than 90 per cent of complainants' money thanks to the window available right after the fraudulent transaction has taken place. Of the Rs 1.11 crore lost by complainants to frauds, Rs 1.1 crore has been recovered.

One of the newly opened cyber police stations at Samta Nagar, Kandivli East. File pic

The Cyber Crime police received 228 complaints of fraudulent transactions in 2019 and 2020. The Golden Hour refers to the first 24 hours from the time of the crime when there is the possibility of recovering the money. These complaints are separate from the FIRs related to cybercrime cases. To strengthen their response to cybercrime, the Mumbai police have also established a cyber cell in every police station.

A cyber police officer told mid-day, "If a person who has been cheated approaches the police within 24 hours of the transaction, police recover the money using the stop payment mechanism. As soon as we receive a complaint, we give the bank details of the complaint and the method of cheating and they stop the money from being transferred." The banks are contacted by the police via email and phone. The 228 cyber fraud complaints within the first 24 hours had collectively lost Rs 1,11,75,966. Prompt action led to Rs 1,01,67,633 being recovered.

Zone XI (Malad West to Borivli West) has the maximum number of such complaints at 130, with Rs 57,11,610 lost, and recovered. Zone XII (Malad East to Dahisar) is in second place with 58 complaints, Rs 20,28,811 lost and Rs 17,33,216 recovered. Zone VII (Ghatkopar to Mulund) is in third place with 18 complaints, Rs 12,82,333 lost and Rs 9,19,279 recovered.

Joint Commissioner of Police (law and order) Vishwas Nangare Patil told mid-day, "People must prevent themselves from becoming cybercrime victims by approaching the police without delay. There is a possibility of recovering the money within the Golden Hour."

Saved in the nick of time

Satyendra Jain, 67, a custom excise superintended, got his money back in a week through the method. He had ported from one network service provider to another and had Rs 1,000 in his previous account for which he sent the company an email. However, his email was hacked and someone called and asked him to download an app and deposit Rs 10 in it to get his money back. Jain did that but received an OTP that the caller had asked for and became suspicious. The OTP had also been sent to the hacked email ID, using which the fraudster took Rs 36,000. Jain submitted his account details to Malad police, which reached out to the bank. "As soon as I went to the police, they asked for a bank statement and sent an email to the bank and blocked the transaction," Jain said.

Dharmesh Patel, 36, a Dahisar resident received a message offering to double his money by downloading an app. Patel got the app and deposited Rs 30,000 in it. But he got a call saying that there is no scheme for the amount and that he must deposit Rs 1 lakh for a chance to get Rs 7 lakh. Patel took a loan from relatives and deposited Rs 1.42 lakh. But after the transactions, none of the contact persons related to the scheme was taking his calls, which sent alarm bells ringing. Patel went to Dahisar police, gave his bank statement, and the transaction was blocked by contacting the bank. He got his money back in four days.

"I got attracted to the scheme as I did not have work during the lockdown. But the police helped me get my money back. I also returned the money I had borrowed from my relatives."

228
Complaints received within 24 hours of transactions in 2019, 2020

130
Highest no. of complaints from Zone XI (Malad)