Taking a serious note of the rise in financial and sexual cybercrimes against women and children, the State Government has decided to intensify efforts to prevent the social menace.
Deliberating at a meeting held on January 31 in the Lok Seba Bhawan, Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra laid stress on starting an awareness programme against cyber crime at the grassroots level.
He suggested involving all sections in the campaign, especially the elderly, students, ASHAs, sports persons and members of self-help groups (SHG). For this, 34 awareness vehicles will visit every police station in the State and deliver awareness messages through video and audio.
The awareness will be created through painting on walls of schools and sports centers. Even in parent-teacher meetings at the school level, awareness of cyber crime will also be spread.
The meeting focused on creating awareness about verifying authenticity before any money transaction, not making unnecessary friendships with strangers, not downloading unknown SMS, links or suspicious Apps.
The campaign will continue both online and offline. Cyber-crime control messages will also be given regularly on various social media platforms. For this, various seminars will also be organised. Even road runs, cyclothons, processions, lectures, essay and quiz competitions at school and college level on “Cyber Crime Free Odisha” will also be held. Odisha is the first State in the country to launch such a campaign.
Notably, in 2021, 52,975 cases were registered in the country, which is an increase of 5.9 per cent in cyber crime cases compared to the previous year. Similarly, in Odisha 1,485 cases were registered in 2019, 1,931 in 2020 and 2,037 in 2021. On the other hand, 3,402 petitions were received in the State in 2021 and 7,700 petitions were received in 2022 through the cyber help desks. Anyone who wants to lodge a complaint about cyber crime can call toll free No. 1930.