If You Have Lost Money to Covid-19 Fraud, Here’s How You Can Get it Back

Mired in the Cvid-19 crisis, many have resorted to unverified sources to get medicines, oxygen concentrators, plasma donors, etc. and have been conned of large amount of money. If you are one among them or have relatives and friends who have been duped by cybercrooks, here’s how you can report the crime and retrieve the money.

Whenever you realise you have been subjected to many fraudulent transaction, immediately alert the citizen financial fraud portal by dialling the helpline number 155260. The portal set up under the aegis of the home ministry, has police personnel attending the call. They will note down essential details of the transaction, following which a token is generated and the beneficiary bank wallet or merchant is put on alert and tasked with tracing and freezing the defrauded amount. 

Explaining how the system works, the police commissioner of Delhi S.N. Srivastava told the media, “With a digital alert sounded, it stops the flow of the defrauded money. In case the funds are shifted to another financial intermediary, the process continues repeating till the amount is put on hold.”

Once the digital alert is sent out, you would get a notification through an SMS containing the reference number and a link to www.cybercrime.gov.in, where you have to lodge a detailed complaint within 24 hours. It’s only after a detailed complaint is filed that the police proceedings begin. Police gets on to retrieving and reverting the amount into your account and the fraudster is traced and brought to task. But do bear in mind that if you fail to file a formal complaint within 24 hours, the money held by the intermediary bank would be released. 

As per various newspaper reports the initiative has helped people retrieve money due to timely action. The chances of tracking siphoned money is the highest in the first few hours of the transaction but in normal course where you have to visit a police station to file a complaint, precious time is lost. As Covid-19 related frauds are rising by the day, Delhi police has increased call taking capacity of the helpline and has plans in place to cater to the growing demand. 

Helpline Number of Citizen Financial Fraud Portal: 155260