Thiruvananthapuram: As Kerala bids farewell to a year with the highest number of cyber frauds in its history, the state police are preparing to roll out three major initiatives in 2024 to curb such crimes. Two of these measures are modelled on successful systems implemented in Israel, which have reduced cyber fraud to just 10 per cent.

WhatsApp Chatbot
The Cyber Police will launch a WhatsApp chatbot designed to help the public detect fraudulent links received via SMS, email, or online ads. Users can paste suspicious links into the chatbot, which will analyse them and respond with one of three colour-coded signals. If the signal is green, it indicates that the link is safe, while the orange signal suggests further scrutiny is required, and users are advised to call the helpline at 1930 for assistance. Red, meanwhile, signals a dangerous link, advising users not to proceed. 

Account scoring
A cyber fraud is complete when stolen money is transferred to fraudulent bank accounts. To address this final stage of fraud, Kerala Police is introducing an account scoring system. Fraudsters typically use newly created bank accounts with weak Know Your Customer (KYC) credentials, operating for only a few months.

Under this system, such accounts will receive low scores, triggering warnings when users attempt to transfer money to them. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the proposal in principle, and the implementation is slated for this year. This scoring system was pivotal in Israel’s success in reducing cyber fraud.

Device whitelisting
Another critical measure in the pipeline is device whitelisting for online banking. This system will notify users whenever their account is accessed from a device not previously used or authorised. This measure will prevent unauthorised individuals from using stolen credentials to transfer funds by alerting account holders to unusual login activity. The Kerala Cyber Police has already reached an agreement with the RBI to implement this project, which has proven effective in Israel.