HYDERABAD: Amidst rising concerns over cybercrime and women’s safety, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Shikha Goel, who heads both Telangana Cyber Security Bureau and the Women Safety Wing, tells TNIE’s Swethavimala M, in an exclusive interview, how the police are implementing various initiatives to combat crime in the state.
There is a huge number of cybercrime cases being registered daily. What are the main focus areas for the Cyber Security Bureau?
Our main focus is to ensure that Telangana does not become a hub for criminal activities. While we do have victims of cybercrime, we are not yet a centre from which cybercrime is perpetrated. We do not want to become that.
Second, the bureau lays special focus on refunding frozen money to victims of cybercrime. One major way we achieve this is through Lok Adalat. Since March 2024, we have refunded nearly Rs 69-Rs 70 crore to victims.
How many police personnel are specially trained to handle cybercrime cases?
In the Cyber Security Bureau alone, we have as many as 300 police personnel from across districts to handle cybercrime cases. Additionally, we have separate cybercrime police stations. There is at least one cyberwarrior in each police station, totalling around 758 cyberwarriors.
Moreover, almost every crime today has a cyber element. So we aim to train all investigation officers in handling cybercrime cases.
In fact, we are in the process of establishing five training labs for cyber security training within a year. We plan to set up these institutions in a couple of months and then focus on the training aspect.
Among the many financial cybercrime cases being reported, what trends should people be aware of?
Stock market or investment fraud is a significant concern. While it is not the most reported case currently, the volume of money lost in this case is very high. We have seen people lose crores of rupees in these cases.
A lot of social media users are flagging videos with abusive material. Is there a special wing to address such cases?
For Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), we utilise social engineering and web crawling techniques to identify offenders. We are actively tracking and investigating these cases.
We will also be launching an initiative in collaboration with specialised organisations to reduce the number of such cases.
For social media posts spreading misinformation or publishing morphed videos, complaints can be reported at https://cybercrime.gov.in/.
With a growing concern for women’s safety and increasing cases of sexual assault and rape, how is the Women Safety Wing addressing this situation?
We are enhancing the efficiency of SHE Teams. We have also launched the T-Safe service to address security concerns of unaccompanied women during travel.
The application has received 10,958 downloads in less than five months since its launch. To date, 17,263 trips have been tracked by the T-Safe service desk, and the app has garnered positive feedback from users.
As technology advances, so do the tools used by cyber fraudsters. How is the Cyber Security Bureau equipped to handle this?
We are using advanced technology within the bureau to track cases. We have an in-house data analyst team and specialised tools for cybercrime investigation.
Recently, we developed Cycaps, a tool that can identify crime links of any criminal arrested in a case nationwide. For investigation purposes, Telangana provided 77,000 crime links of accused individuals from across the country. The tool is now developed at the Government of India for integrating more data from across states.
How can one identify if an agency offering a job overseas is legitimate?
Any agency promising to offer a job in a foreign country must be authorised by the Protector of Emigrants. Verify and crosscheck if the agency has a licence number and is registered with the GOI authority.
Recently, a number of mule accounts have been reported. Any advice on this regard?
Do not share your personal information or bank account details if anyone offers to pay for the same. In these cases, your details are likely being requested for use in criminal activities.
Once a mule account is identified, it will be frozen and reported for illegal activities.