New Delhi: Delhi Police is all set to sign an MoU with caller ID verification platform Truecaller to help the public identify verified numbers and protect themselves from cyber frauds and scams related to impersonation of government officials. So to receive. Police said that apart from educating Delhiites and conducting a joint awareness campaign against cyber frauds, Truecaller will soon help display official numbers of Delhi Police representatives on the app’s official directory services.
“During the Covid pandemic, Truecaller had helped us a lot as a lot of scams and frauds were reported on the pretext of selling oxygen cylinders, concentrators, medicines and other essential items related to the treatment of the deadly virus. identified the numbers and alerted Truecaller, who displayed those unverified numbers as spam,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Public Relations Officer) Suman Nalwa told PTI.
“Now we are signing an MoU with them after which they will verify all the official contact numbers of Delhi Police as the fraudsters have many times posed as officers of the force and displayed photographs of senior officers on their WhatsApp profiles. Extorting money from the public,” he said.
“This will help users to identify verified numbers and protect them from frauds and scams related to impersonation in the name of government officials. All Delhi Police verified numbers will have a green badge and a blue tick mark with a government service tag Which shows that it has been verified for users,” Nalwa said.
According to officials, Truecaller will also flag phone numbers given by the Delhi Police against which it has received complaints regarding harassment, scams or other registered issues. This will help Delhiites to keep themselves safe and will alert them in case these numbers remain active.
Earlier this week, a 22-year-old Indian living in Italy was arrested for allegedly creating a fake WhatsApp account posing as the Vice President of India using Jagdeep Dhankhar’s picture to dupe people and take advantage of senior bureaucrats. Was arrested on the charge.
Accused Gagandeep Singh, who has been living with his family in Ofenango, Italy since 2007, got the idea of impersonation after watching several YouTube videos.
In another case, three men, posing as officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Crime Branch of Delhi Police, allegedly extorted Rs 1.8 crore from a retired Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force commandant by threatening to post pornographic videos. He was arrested on charges of extortion. him on social media platforms.
“As per the MoU, we have to share our official contact numbers to be included in the facility of government directory services. We also have to share numbers to alert Truecaller about the latest cybercrime threats and trends and spam or scams on a regular basis. May need it.” ” He said.
In addition, Truecaller will also help create awareness about cyber security by conducting cyber warfare training sessions with the assistance of Delhi Police. This will help in educating the public about better ways to deal with cyber frauds.
It will also disseminate Delhi Police-Cyber Safety Videos through online cyber safety course created by Truecaller which will share push notifications to users within the app about Delhi Police initiatives on cyber safety, important helpline numbers and their highlights.