Naidu orders action plan to curb cyber frauds, focus on golden hour fund recovery

Vijayawada: Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to prepare a comprehensive action plan to curb the growing menace of cyber and financial crimes in the state. He asked the officials to set their focus on rapid response systems, technology-driven monitoring and “golden hour” fund recovery mechanisms to protect victims from online frauds.Reviewing cyber-crime prevention and response systems on Wednesday, the chief minister instructed police, banking and IT officials to strengthen coordination and adopt advanced technologies to prevent cyber criminals from misusing bank accounts for fraudulent financial transactions. He emphasised the need to improve systems that can help recover victims’ money within the crucial “golden hour” immediately after a cyber fraud is reported.Naidu directed officials to study emerging trends in investment frauds and online financial scams, which he said were increasing at an alarming rate. He pointed out that several shell companies were allegedly being established without proper Aadhaar authentication and KYC verification and called for a detailed study into such practices. The chief minister asked bankers, the police department, AP Technology Services (APTS) and finance department officials to jointly prepare standard operating procedures for preventing online financial frauds. He also suggested introducing systems to identify and flag suspicious mule bank accounts frequently used by cyber criminals for routing illegal transactions.Naidu asked officials to examine national and international best practices in cyber-crime prevention and said APTS should play a major role in introducing advanced technologies. He also directed banks to closely monitor high-value transactions, particularly during weekends, when cyber fraud incidents are often reported. He advised officials to coordinate with the Reserve Bank of India regarding regulatory changes required to strengthen cyber fraud prevention systems.Naidu specifically referred to the RBI-developed “Mule Account Hunter AI” tool and instructed officials to explore its usage for identifying fake and suspicious bank accounts linked to cyber-crimes. He also called for a study of successful cyber crime prevention models being implemented in states such as Haryana and Maharashtra to develop a foolproof action plan for the state. Director general of police Harish Kumar Gupta informed that victims in the state had lodged nearly 9.29 lakh complaints through the national cyber-crime helpline 1930 where the collective loss is around Rs 652 crore. The DGP stated that the CID cyber crime wing had managed to prevent over Rs 116 crore from reaching cyber criminals through timely intervention and fund-freezing mechanisms.IT department secretary Katamaneni Bhaskar said the AP Cyber Security Operation Centre (CSOC) was also working to protect govt data and websites from cyber threats and digital attacks. Ministers Payyavula Keshav and Vangalapudi Anitha, senior police officials, RBI representatives and executives from various banks attended the meeting.-