Karnataka mulls 'golden hour' intervention to get the better of cybercriminals

Following a rise in cybercrime, the state government and the police department have decided to set up a new system to check financial frauds, by freezing the accounts of scammers within the ‘golden hour’.

The decision was taken at a recent meeting chaired by Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, where the advocate general, additional chief secretary (home), state and city police chiefs, RBI regional director, and banks discussed ways to prevent such crimes.

Earlier, banks demanded an FIR to freeze the account of the receiver, but if the new system is implemented, the victim can send an SMS or WhatsApp message, phone call or email to the banks about the fraud, who will initiate quick action and stop the money from being withdrawn.

Police officers noted that soon after a fraud is committed, the next one hour is considered as the golden hour to stop the damage. This can be done by stopping the fund flow by reporting the fraud to the bank/law enforcing agency.

DG&IG Praveen Sood said Karnataka police was formulating a process in which the victims can report the scam either through phone call, SMS or email. A unique number is generated, which would be considered equal to an FIR number. He suggested that banks consider this unique number and temporarily freeze the account of fraudsters and prevent further damage.