UP Police partners with Amazon to tackle online scams, frauds

In an effort to tackle the rising menace of online scams and frauds, Amazon India has joined forces with the Uttar Pradesh Police for a consumer education and awareness campaign called #MissionGraHAQ. The initiative aims to spread awareness and educate consumers about safe online shopping practices, and protect them from bad actors.

The partnership will explore several joint initiatives including social media campaigns, interactive workshops, and awareness activities to prevent financial fraud. One of the primary focus areas of this partnership is enhancing online safety for women, the company said in a statement.

"This association will help us deliver on our shared mission of enhancing online safety and promote a trustworthy digital space," said Chetan Krishnaswamy, vice president, public policy at Amazon India. He added that the Internet is now seamlessly integrated into our everyday lives and, it is imperative to forge such private-public partnerships to build defence against bad actors. This collaboration will not only educate a large consumer base but also enable us to identify to foster a secure digital experience.

As part of their joint efforts, Amazon and the UP Police have planned several projects. These include consumer awareness campaigns, educating women on identifying online fraudsters, promoting safe use of e-commerce platforms and social media, and preventing online scams and frauds.

“Our partnership comes at a time when we are witnessing a significant surge in online transactions post-Covid, courtesy convenience of online shopping and UPI payment infrastructure. There's an increased need for consumers to be vigilant and our joint initiatives will help us do just that,” said Prashant Kumar, Special DG law and order, Uttar Pradesh.

The rise in online transactions has undoubtedly increased financial scams in India and to be sure, this is not the only initiative by technology companies in spreading awareness about online safety in collaboration with various state police departments. 

In May 2022, Quick Heal Foundation, the CSR arm of Quick Heal Technologies, collaborated with Indore City Police and the Cyber cell team to raise awareness about online safety by conducting a series of street plays across the city. Prior to that, the foundation along with Maharashtra Police and Cyber cell created a similar initiative to spread cyber security awareness through street plays in Thane.

In January, the Maharashtra government said it is creating a "dynamic and robust platform" to curb cybercrimes. According to deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis stakeholders like police, banks, financial institutions and technology companies will be brought together on the platform, which will create a system to respond quickly to check fraudulent transactions, he said.

According to a report published earlier in May this year by cybersecurity firm Check Point, for the first quarter of 2023 in India, every organisation faced an average of 2,108 weekly cyber-attacks, reported a study. This is an 18% in the number of weekly average attacks in comparison to the corresponding period in 2022. Experts see companies as well as consumers are increasingly being victims of cybercrimes, frauds and related activities.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D) data published in December 2022, noted, there are 202 dedicated cybercrime police stations in 28 states and eight Union Territories in the country. Of these, Tamil Nadu has 46 and Maharashtra 43, followed by 31 in West Bengal, 19 in Kerala, 14 in Gujarat, and 11 in Karnataka.