Taking a first step towards redressing the grievances of the victims of Cyber Crime Financial Frauds from the state on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, the Cyber Crime Cell of the Punjab Police with the co-ordination of Punjab State Legal Services has successfully facilitated the refund of the frozen amount to the tune of Rs 28.5 lakhs back in the accounts of victims from the concerned banks, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Tuesday.
Pertinently, the facility of Cyber Helpline, 1930 was implemented by Cyber Crime Cell, Punjab from the year 2021 to prevent financial loss to the citizens, who may have become victims of Cyber Crime financial fraud.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that following registeration of the complaint on the helpline 1930 or Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS), the money of victims of Cyber Crime frauds got frozen in the accounts of the accused/suspects.
"Till date, as many as 28642 complaints regarding financial frauds were filed on the HELPLINE 1930 in Punjab, acting swiftly on which, the Cyber Cell froze (debit freeze/lien freeze) an amount of approximately Rs 15.5 crore, which has been lying in the banks," he said.
(From Information and Public Relations department Punjab)
The DGP said that to streamline the procedure of refunding the frozen amount, the Cyber Crime Cell has approached the State Legal Services Authority to facilitate the refund to the victim accounts under section 457 of the CrPC through Lok Adalats.
He said that Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Cyber Crime V. Neeraja had a meeting with Hon’ble Justice Mr. Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia, Executive Chairman of Punjab Legal Services Authority on December 5, 2023, and got the necessary directions issued to all District Legal Service authorities of Punjab on the procedure to be adopted for the refund.
Sharing more details, ADGP V. Neeraja said that as a pilot project, Ludhiana Commissionerate Police on December 9, 2023 had submitted 36 case applications on complaints reported on 1930 helpline for refund to the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ludhiana in the Lok Adalat, of which 33 applications were approved by the court and a total amount of Rs 28.5 lakhs were ordered to be released to the accounts of the victims from the concerned banks.
“More applications for refund of the frozen amount of about 6 lakhs in Ludhiana and 11 from Mohali amount of about 15 lakhs is under consideration,” she said, while adding that this process would help so many victims of Cyber Crime Financial frauds from Punjab to reclaim the money lost to fraudsters.
The ADGP said that other districts have also started this process and many applications to release the frozen amount on the lines of the pilot project are under consideration and will be processed very soon.
Meanwhile, the ‘National helpline 1930 and reporting platform’ is the project of the Ministry of Home Affairs to prevent financial loss of the citizens victimised by cyber financial frauds. Helpline 1930 has been receiving Cybercrime fraud calls 24X7 and reporting them to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) for further necessary action by financial intermediaries and banks.
Victims who get their money back:
- Omkar Singh of Ludhiana, who is victim of a fraud call, has got orders from the Court for refund of his Rs 2 lakh amount in his account
- Navjot Singh of Ludhiana, who lost his money in an investment scam, to get amount Rs 7.45 lakhs back in his bank account
- Rakesh Kumar of Ludhiana, who lost Rs 27000 to a cyber fraudster, got orders from the court to get the amount back in his bank account
- Harpreet Kaur of Ludhiana, a victim of fraud call, to get Rs 27000 back in her bank account