Agartala: Tripura Police has taken school teachers and students for ‘Cyber Jodha’ drive to spread awareness about cyber crime. Launched in mid-January in South Tripura district, the initiative seeks to tackle growing cyber threats through collaboration between the police and the education sector.
Launched in mid-January in South Tripura district, the initiative seeks to tackle growing cyber threats through collaboration between the police and the education sector. (Representative photo)A senior police official said the awareness program emphasizes common cyber crimes including digital fraud, misuse of social media, phishing, digital impersonation, fake messages and calls and suspicious links, while also warning against sharing personal information, bank passwords and one-time passwords (OTPs) during the workshop.
Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag Dhyankar advised people to contact the National Cybercrime Helpline number 1930 or file a complaint through the official cybercrime reporting portal.
South Tripura District Superintendent of Police (SP) Maurya Krishna C said the “Cyber Jodha” initiative was taken to empower teachers and students as ambassadors of cyber security, involving them in creating awareness about cyber crime in their schools, families and communities.
“It will first start in South Tripura district. In every school, there will be a team who will be tasked with creating awareness about cyber crime. Preparations for forming the team are under process,” said the SP.
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Teachers and students take the message of cyber security to school and home
Over 400 teachers and students from 157 schools in South Tripura district participated in a cyber crime awareness workshop on January 11, highlighting the growing concern over cyber threats and ways to counter them through awareness.
“We have come to know about various types of cyber crimes happening around us. I plan to discuss these issues in detail with the parents during the parent-teacher meeting,” said Prasenjit Das, an English teacher at North Bharatchandra Nagar Higher Secondary School in South Tripura, who attended the event with two students – Shubhankar Kar and Varsha Biswas.
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Subhankar, a Class XI student, shared his experience of receiving a phone call from an unknown person who tried to lure him by offering him a job in exchange. ₹5,000. However, he no longer entertained the call. “I shared what I learned with my parents and siblings, like not sharing OTP with unknown numbers or any valuable data. We also shared it with other students in the school,” Shubhankar said.
Devleena Saha, IT teacher, Belonia Government English Medium Higher Secondary School said, “Being an IT teacher, I have some knowledge about cybercrime. But we got to know in detail in the workshop. I shared it with students of Class I to IX. I will share it with students of middle and higher secondary after they complete their board exams.”
Debalena, who attended the workshop with class two students Arnab Debnath and Diya Dutta, added that she worked in the district Childline Department for one and a half years before joining the school.
“Being tech-savvy in this day and age, I have some knowledge about online fraud. My father faced a similar problem earlier when an unknown number asked him to call back. ₹20,000 which he (caller) claimed to have mistakenly sent to his account. My father asked me about this, and I told him not to do anything. Later, he found that not a single penny had entered his bank account,” said Arnav.
He added that he shared information about various cybercrimes with his family members and colleagues and would spread awareness whenever possible.
Cyber crime is on the rise in Tripura
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DGP Dhankar said a total of 3,533 cybercrime-related complaints were registered in Tripura, of which fraud was the majority. ₹36 crore last year. Of these approx ₹10 lakhs were refunded to the victims in cases where timely reports were made to the police.
“Cybercrime is one of the fastest growing threats to people and governments,” said Dhankar, who specializes in countering cybercrime.
During the investigation, the police found that many such bank accounts were created by deceiving poor people and collecting their personal and mobile details by opening accounts in their names without their knowledge.
According to the state police data, financial fraud has caused losses in Tripura ₹1.98 crore in 2021 which has increased ₹4.62 crore in 2022, ₹9 crore in 2023, and ₹25.52 crores in 2024. However, the trend has shown signs of slowing down, with financial losses ₹10.36 crore reported as on July 31 last year.
To tackle cybercrime, the state police has taken several steps, including the launch of Tripura’s first dedicated cybercrime police station in June last year.
The Home Department, through a notification issued on November 12, 2018, constituted a Cyber Crime Unit under the Crime Branch of the State Police. Later, cyber crime cells were formed at the district level to handle cybercrime-related issues. All major cybercrime complaints registered at police stations are forwarded to the cybercrime unit with the approval of the DGP for detailed investigation.
A total of 151 officers and 113 personnel trained to handle cybercrime-related cases have been deployed to handle these issues.
Police said Tripura has seen common and emerging patterns of cyber crime in recent years, including fake gas and electricity bill scams, investment scams through WhatsApp trading groups, bank fraud through OTP theft, phishing emails, lottery scams, online fraud, and digital arrests.
