Cyberabad police refund Rs 2.23 cr put-on-hold amount to victims

M.Stephen Raveendra directed officials to take up special drive to help the victims in getting refund of their lost money, which was seized in the fraudster’s bank accounts.

Hyderabad: For the first time, the Cyberabad cybercrime police have successfully refunded the put-on-hold amount of Rs.2.23 crore to the victims of as many as 44 various cybercrime cases.

Due to the huge surge in the reporting of cybercrime cases in the recent past, Cyberabad Police Commissioner M.Stephen Raveendra directed officials to take up special drive to help the victims in getting refund of their lost money, which was seized in the fraudster’s bank accounts. This was done duly following the process of court.

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Cyberabad DCP (Crimes) Kalmeshwar Shingenavar said on an average, about Rs.60 lakh worth cybercrime fraud cases were being reported on the central government portal – 1930 and subsequently directed to the Cyberabad police. Most of the cases were investment frauds.

When a victim reports a cybercrime case incident online either through 1930 or through NCRP portal; the petition will be directed to police and the nodal officers of the banks concerned, for investigation of the case.

“During the investigation, the Investigation Officer with the help of NCRP report of bank transactions seizes the amount in the suspect accounts. Further, the officer intimates the same to victims and guides them to file a petition in the court seeking order for refunding the seized money,” the DCP said.

Cybercrime DCP Ritiraj said after receiving the court order, the officers follow up with the banks and see that the amount is refunded to the victims accounts. “In Cyberabad, until now, the procedures were not established. The procedures being followed in other States could not be followed here. Hence, we had to co-ordinate with our judiciary and come up with our own Standard Operating Procedure,” Ritiraj said.

One of the victims said he was looking for a job and fell into the trap of cyber fraudsters. “It was an investment fraud. They connected through messages and calls and offered income for just hitting likes on online content and duped me to the tune of Rs.1.2 lakh.”