Karnataka considers ‘golden hour’ intervention to cut down on cyber crimes

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With the constant spike in the rate of cyber crimes in the state, the Karnataka state government in collaboration with the police department have taken the decision to establish anew system termed as “golden hour”. This new system will be to keep a track of the financial frauds, by freezing the accounts of the scammers amid the ‘golden hour’.

The move comes after a joint meeting conducted recently by Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai. The meeting had comprehensive discussion for about the different strategies and suggestions to avert cyber crimes, put forth by advocate general, additional chief secretary (home), state and city police chiefs, RBI regional director and banks.

In the conventional system, an FIR was required to be presented to the bank for freezing the account of the receiver. But, if the recent proposal of new system gets enforced, it will be immediate, with just an SMS, WhatsApp message, email or phone call, the victim can intimate the bank about the fraud. Thereafter, the bank can take quick action and hold back the money to be withdrawn.

The police officers have observed that just after the fraud is committed, the following hour can be utilized to revert the damage, terming it the golden hour. The fund flow can be ceased as soon as the fraud is reported to the bank/law enforcing agency.

A new system is being curated by DG and IG Praveen Sood where the victims can easily notify about the fraud through call, SMS or email, according to Karnataka Police. In the notifying process, a unique number will be generated, much similar to FIR number. The banks will then consider the unique number, and seize the transaction to the fraudsters account.