Multi-channel reporting, awareness important to curb cybercrime, says Lucknow police

Amid the increase in cyber fraud activities with multiple attempts and cases of digital arrest recorded in Uttar Pradesh in the past few weeks, Lucknow police officials on Wednesday (December 31, 2025) urged multi-channel reporting, awareness campaigns, quick blocking of accounts and reaching out to vulnerable sections of the population as security protocol to curb the menace. “Yes, the threat of digital arrest is increasing as scammers call people and arrest them digitally. As AI Voice and Video spoofing is going to increase the risk in the future, people should do independent verification by calling official police and bank helplines, not the number that called them,” Vineet Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Law and Order, Lucknow, told IPS. The Hindu.

Recently, in the third week of December, Lucknow’s Vikas Nagar police were successful in a cyber rescue, foiling a ₹1.3 crore digital fraud as the victim, a 75-year-old woman, was saved from bearing the brunt when fraud put her under a ‘digital arrest’ for over four days. “When the bank alerted us, we acted urgently to foil the cyber fraud attempt as criminals tried to extract the woman’s entire life savings by psychologically confusing the lady by posing as CBI officials for four days and keeping her under digital arrest,” said Alok Kumar Singh, Station House Officer (SHO), Vikas Nagar police station.

When asked how people can save themselves from such digital frauds, Mr Vineet said that awareness is the key and knowledge about fear tactics like ‘you will be arrested etc. are considered warning signs.’ “People should know that the authorities do not enforce via WhatsApp/video calls. There is a need to encourage platforms and banks to share threat information so that suspicious accounts/links are proactively blocked. Digital awareness tools like Expand campaigns that show how to spot fake apps, fraudulent UPI prompts and scam stores – online toolkits, short videos and games can strengthen these skills,” said Mr Singh.

The ACS also urged the implementation of a 112 WhatsApp bot system that will provide protection against such cybercriminals. “People should also recognize common scam red flags such as urgent requests for payment, requests for sensitive data (OTP/PIN), too-good-to-be-true offers and unknown links/messages,” he added.