Bhubaneswar, Sep 8 (IANS) The Odisha government on Monday appealed to banking institutions to provide full support to the state law enforcement agencies in addressing the escalating issue of cyber fraud in the state.

The appeal was made during the 34th meeting of the State Level Co-ordination Committee (SLCC) organised at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), here on Monday.

As per an official statement, the bankers were advised in the meeting to cooperate fully with law-enforcing agencies to effectively tackle the menace of cyber fraud.

During the meeting, Director General of Police (DGP) YB Khurania stated that in Odisha, the most commonly reported cyber frauds include investment and trading scams, digital arrest scams, fake job and work-from-home offers, fraudulent websites and hotel bookings, as well as social media-related frauds, highlighting a growing concern for public safety.

He further advised urgent corrective action by banks to regulate the opening of mule accounts, which are considered the backbone of cyber fraud operations.

Puspamitra Sahu, the Chief General Manager, RBI’s Central Office, Mumbai, who also participated in the meeting, explained RBI’s proactive and adaptive approach in combating cyber frauds and mule accounts by strengthening the regulatory and supervisory framework, collaborating with various stakeholders like state law-enforcing agencies and customer awareness programmes on safe banking and fraud prevention.

During the meeting, the state government and bankers also deliberated on various other issues, including nuances of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes (BUDS) Act, 2019, complaints against unincorporated bodies, cooperative societies, market intelligence inputs, etc. Development Commissioner Anu Garg, who chaired the meeting, stressed the need for extensive awareness campaigns through various channels, including online publicity, to educate the public to prevent them from falling prey to Ponzi schemes by unscrupulous entities.

Several senior officials from the Odisha Police, different state government departments including Finance, Revenue and Disaster Management, Cooperation and Law departments, SEBI, etc, participated in the meeting.

–IANS

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