The Bidhannagar commissionerate has launched a 24X7 helpline where one can report any type of cybercrime.
Residents of areas under the jurisdiction of the commissionerate — including Salt Lake, New Town, Rajarhat, Baguiati, Lake Town and parts of Dum Dum — can call up the helpline, 9038 333 444, and ask for help.
Gaurav Sharma, commissioner of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, said they launched the helpline to help victims of cybercrime and also to provide assistance to potential cyber fraud victims.
“This number will be manned 24X7 by trained police personnel. Anyone who receives a dubious phone call, e-mail or message... can call the helpline for assistance. Once a person calls thehelpline, our personnel will provide all sorts of assistance and help the caller lodge a police complaint. They will also provide help in a way that potential cyber fraud victims don’t fall prey to scamsters,” Sharma told Metro.
A senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said cybercrime has over the years emerged as the one of the biggest problems. Fraudsters take advantage of the fact that cybercrime can be committed sitting in a location far from where the victims live.
“Scamsters sitting in other states, or even in other countries, can call and cheat people through various means. In Calcutta, one of the most common ways to dupe people is by sending them text messages or calling them and saying their bank accounts have been frozen or their electricity connections will be snapped as their bills are due,” the officer said.
The Bidhannagar commissionerate has one cybercrime police station, located in Salt Lake.
The police station receives regular complaints from people whose accounts are emptied by fraudsters claiming to be bank officials, insurance agents or telecom company representatives.
Cheats posing as representatives of telecom service providers lure prospective victims into their net by offering them huge amounts as rent if they allow installation of cellphone towers on their premises.
Calcutta police, too, have a helpline — 8585063104 — to report cybercrimes.
