new delhi: With cybercrime cases on the rise since the pandemic hit the Capital and the police force here occupied with a host of Covid-19 duties in addition to controlling crime, all 15 districts of the Delhi Police here are likely to get their own cybercrime experts — who will help them save time and ensure technically clean investigations. The idea was brought up at a meeting of the top brass of the police force, where Commissioner SN Shrivastava directed that the proposal for recruiting these cyber experts be expedited. "Augmentation of resources and manpower should be carried out to effectively handle the increasing cyber crimes," he is known to have told officers. "During the pandemic, cases of cybercrime have increased. All steps including awareness among people are being taken for public safety," one police official said. As per data, more than 700 complaints were received by Delhi Police from April 25 to May 24 and over 500 FIRs were registered with regards to cybercrime. Last year, between April 20 and July 20, the peak of the lockdown, the cybercrime incidents increased twofold. This increase was primarily driven by online frauds which accounted for the lions share (two-third) of all cybercrimes. As per police, 62 per cent of the cybercrime complaints lodged in 2020 were related to financial frauds. Twenty-four per cent of the complaints were related to social media, primarily online harassment, and the rest 14 per cent were related to crimes such as hacking and data theft. One official said that these cybercrime experts will be extremely useful for investigators to understand and comprehend a new modus operandi. "They also assist us during an investigation by ensuring that procedures are correct and also they help them in understanding different laws," the official said. Meanwhile, another official added that the experts can also help with data retrieval. "Suppose one hard disk is recovered from a criminal but he had deleted all the data. At that time cyber experts help in data retrievable through forensic tools. They cover digital footprint during the probe," the official said. Not only that they help in data analysis and also help them to find out the origin of any social media account. During the meeting, the Commissioner also directed officers that districts Deputy Commissioners of Police should ensure that complaints are reported to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) and necessary action should be taken within one week of the posting of the complaint. Special CPs (zones) and Joint CPs (ranges) will review it on regular basis. The functioning of district cyber cells was reviewed and DCPs were asked to take the assistance of the Delhi Police cyber cell (CyPAD) wherever required. "There have been coordinated efforts in recent weeks to crack down on Covid cons and the concerted action should continue," the police chief added.

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