New Delhi | Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday directed for the establishment of a national level call centre for Cyber Crime Helpline 1930 to handle complaints unattended at the state level.
Shah emphasised that every citizen seeking assistance through the National Cyber Crime Helpline 1930 should receive timely support and that no complaint should remain unattended or pending.
He directed for the establishment of a national-level 1930 call centre, equipped with adequate manpower and call-handling capacity, according to a government statement.
"This national call centre will handle calls that remain unanswered at the state level and ensure that every victim receives timely assistance and prompt registration of complaints," the statement said.
Chairing a high-level review meeting, Shah said the helpline should be overhauled, modernised and upgraded through the adoption of advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), to further improve its efficiency, response capabilities and service delivery.
He said all state-level 1930 call centres should be upgraded in terms of technology and infrastructure with robust interactive voice response (IVR) systems to ensure efficient call management and seamless forwarding of calls to the appropriate levels.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will provide the necessary support for hardware and technological upgrades, while the states and Union territories will be requested to ensure adequate manpower at these centres to facilitate the timely disposal of complaints, the home minister said.
He said the upgraded helpline should facilitate faster complaint registration, intelligent call routing and effective management of citizens' grievances.
Directing the officials to make the system even better, Shah reviewed various citizen-centric mechanisms established to provide immediate relief to people from cyber crimes, especially cyber financial frauds.
"The National Cyber Crime Helpline 1930 has emerged as an important platform for enabling citizens to register complaints related to cyber crimes, in a simple and prompt manner, especially financial cyber frauds," Shah said.
He said the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to building a secure, technology-driven and citizen-centric cyber crime prevention and response mechanism.
The meeting also reviewed the performance of the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS), a key initiative of the MHA to tackle cyber-financial frauds. The system promptly blocks fraudulent financial transactions through the banking network, thereby increasing the possibility of securing and restoring funds to victims.
Shah said the ministry issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in January for a speedy resolution of cyber financial fraud cases.
"The SOP ensures coordinated action among banks, financial institutions, law-enforcement agencies and other stakeholders, so that funds blocked within the banking system can be returned to victim citizens at the earliest," he said.
The Supreme Court has directed all high courts to ensure the implementation of the SOP, the statement said.
Shah also directed for a regular review of the Money Restoration Module (MRM) and the Grievance Redressal Module (GRM) developed under the CFCFRMS.
Effective implementation of these modules should also be regularly monitored at the state level to ensure timely resolution of complaints and prompt restoration of funds to victims, he said.
The home minister also said swift action should be taken in cases involving unnecessarily frozen bank accounts and accountability should be fixed in such matters.
"So far, around one lakh citizens have benefitted from the money restoration and grievance redressal mechanism," he said.
Officials apprised Shah that under the SOP, approximately 94 lakh bank accounts from which funds can potentially be restored have so far been uploaded under the money restoration and grievance redressal framework, the statement said.
Shah underlined the need for more effective measures to address the issue of mule bank accounts used by cyber criminals in financial frauds.
"Through coordinated efforts of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, state governments, law-enforcement agencies, banks and financial institutions, we will further strengthen our cyber-security framework, while ensuring prompt and effective assistance to victims of cyber crimes," he said.
