Telangana Cybercrime bureau freezes Rs. 128 Crores: DGP Ravi Gupta

HYDERABAD: Telangana State, leading in the quantum of amounts frozen in suspect bank accounts, has successfully frozen over Rs. 128 crore by the Telangana State Police Cyber Security Bureau, said Telangana DGP Ravi Gupta on Friday.

Ravi Gupta revealed during a session on Cyber Hygiene and Cyber Awareness at Telangana State Police Command and Control Centre that Telangana was the first to establish the Telangana State Cyber Come Coordination Centre (T4C) and its district-level equivalent, the DACS.

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He said that Telangana not only led in freezing amounts in suspect bank accounts but also in releasing funds to victims of cybercrime. In this era of technology-driven lifestyles, it's essential to exercise caution when storing, sharing, or transmitting personal and official information, securing communication, and computing devices to prevent exploitation by cyber offenders, he added.

Shikha Goel, Director of TSCSB, highlighted the ongoing challenges, emphasizing Courier Crimes and internet banking frauds as major concerns in Telangana. She also revealed noteworthy achievements, including the establishment of T4C, the first-of-its-kind Telangana State Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, and a dedicated Cyber Bureau. This bureau took a holistic approach to analysing crime trends and guiding cyber police operations, she added.

Shikha Goel said, "Telangana leads as the first state to launch a fully functional 1930 helpline center. T4C, handling over 90,000 calls since its inception, boasts the highest call volume nationwide. The Bureau had frozen suspected amounts totaling over 128 Crore and refunded close to Rs. 8 crores to victims, both national records.

"The bureau executed PT Warrants against accused involved in 12,053 crimes nationwide, including 2025 cases in Telangana. Notably, specialised training for 870 police personnel across all Law & Order Police Stations in the state has equipped them to exclusively handle cybercrime complaints and related issues at the police station level, making them Cyber Warriors," she added.

The bureau had successfully established 66,726 interstate crime links by collating the information belonging to the accused from various States and shared details with relevant police authorities nationwide, said Shikha Goel.

As a crucial aspect of the overall cyber security strategy, the bureau had scrutinised nearly 19,000 suspicious URLs, resulting in the takedown of 4,481 fraudulent links. Additionally, 1,638 websites hosting these links or connected to them were successfully removed, she said.

The bureau issued 13 critical Cyber Safety advisories to various government departments in the year 2023-2024. As many as 27,600 SIM cards utilised by cybercriminals have been successfully blocked. Additionally, the bureau had initiated IMEI blocking since last month as part of enhanced cyber safety measures.

She said that most of the cyber offenses were preventable if all netizens followed simple basic cyber hygiene. Further, the Director urged the citizens to realise that if something seemed too good to be true, it is probably not true.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner K. Sreenivasa Reddy commended the Cyber Security Bureau for organising an innovative workshop. He urged the media to raise awareness, emphasising its role in preventing widespread cyber crimes.

TSCSB SP Viswajit Kampati explained the purpose of the Cyber Hygiene workshop. The session included practical exercises on securing mobile phones and messaging apps to ensure the safety of stored and transmitted information.