Cyber threat on the rise: 21 plaints being reported every hour in Himachal

The National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal’s (NCRP) helpline number receives at least 21 calls per hour regarding such frauds in the state.

As per the state cyber cell, it records over 500 such complaints daily. These complaints include the ones regarding digital arrests, sextortion, fake investment schemes, Aadhaar or bank details updation, gifts, loans, exclusive news, etc.

What’s more concerning is that the number of complaints in 2025 have witnessed a surge compared to 2024, when roughly 350 complaints of cybercrime were being reported.

State CID cybercrime Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Mohit Chawla said with cyber criminals using advanced techniques and innovative ways to outsmart people and defraud them, there was a need to raise awareness among people regarding the ongoing trends of cybercrime. He said people should refrain from attending suspicious calls or clicking on unknown and suspicious links as they could very likely lead to cyber fraud.

“The fraudsters mainly target personal and financial information of the people. Therefore, people should avoid sharing such sensitive information with anyone and should immediately report the number. Also, people should also be aware that no government official or police or army person threatens a person and demands money from the people on video/audio calls, therefore, they should always be aware and not to get into the trap of the fraudsters,” he said.

Speaking about the steps being taken by the police against the cybercrime, he said last year, Himachal had set up its first CY Data Centre and was also deploying cyber commandos across the state, who were trained in effectively dealing with cybercrime at premier institutes of the country such as Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. “The cybercrime cell is also working to incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI) to ensure time bound lodging of complaint as well as its quick redressal,” he added.

He has also appealed the people to immediately report any instance of cybercrime in toll-free cybercrime helpline number 1930 for quick redressal.