THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Maharashtra and Rajasthan have shown interest in replicating the social media platform initiated by the Kerala police to curb online frauds. Stop Banking Fraud, a Whatsapp platform of its Cyberdome with the support of Reserve Bank of India, is gaining national attention as it is proving to be an effective mechanism to stop fraudulent transactions online. In the initial ten days of its last month launch, online scams to the tune of Rs 2.34 lakh could be curbed, and in the first month, it touched Rs 23 lakh.
"We have already received enquiries from the police officials of Maharashtra and Rajasthan on how the Whatsapp platform worked and we have provided the details. Hope other states may also replicate the model as their banks, e-wallet and online trading platforms are also interested in our model," said Cyberdome nodal officer and Thiruvanantha-puram-range IG Manoj Abraham. Nodal officers of almost all banks, leading online trading platforms and e-wallets in Kerala have now joined the Stop Banking Fraud which will be live round the clock.
Officials of all district police cyber cells, cyber police station, Hitech Crime Enquiry Cell and Cyberdome are also members of the Whatsapp group. As soon as they get a complaint, it would be shared on the Whatsapp group so that officials of the concerned bank and trading platform will take swift steps to block it. "Though a customer gets alert messages immediately after a transaction from his bank account, the transaction process may take several hours. Hence if complaints are received at once, it could be blocked. The earlier it is received, the higher the chance for blocking the transaction," said Mr Abraham.
