MHA running national helpline, reporting platform to fight cyber fraud

The national helpline is 155260

The Union Home Ministry has operationalised the national helpline 155260 and reporting platform for preventing financial loss due to cyber fraud.

The national helpline and reporting platform provide a mechanism for persons cheated in cyber frauds to report such cases to prevent loss of their hard-earned money, a ministry statement said.

Reinforcing the commitment of the Modi government to provide safe and secure digital payments eco-system, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) under the leadership of Union Home Minister Amit Shah has operationalised the national helpline 155260 and reporting platform for preventing financial loss due to cyber fraud, the statement said.

The helpline was soft launched on April 1, 2021. The helpline 155260 and its reporting platform has been made operational by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the home ministry, with active support and cooperation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), all major banks, payment banks, wallets and online merchants.

The Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System has been developed in-house by I4C to integrate law enforcement agencies and banks and financial intermediaries.

It is currently being utilised along with 155260 by seven states and Union territories (Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh) covering more than 35 per cent of the country's population. Roll out in the others states for pan-India coverage is underway to prevent the flow of money siphoned off by fraudsters.

Since its soft launch, in a short span of two months, the helpline 155260 has been able to save more than Rs 1.85 crore of defrauded money from reaching the hands of fraudsters, with Delhi and Rajasthan saving Rs 58 lakh and Rs 53 lakh, respectively, the statement said.