Lucknow: UP registered a major breakthrough in cyber crime prevention, securing the third position at the national level in lien percentage — a key indicator of the proportion of defrauded money successfully frozen before it is siphoned off — according to Jan 2026 data from the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP).The state made a leap from 24th position earlier to third place, freezing Rs484.45 crore of cyber fraud proceeds within the banking system.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath consistently flagged cyber crime as a serious threat to internal security, social stability and citizens’ privacy, placing its prevention, control and effective investigation among the govt’s highest priorities, officials said.Following the assumption of charge by director general of police Rajeev Krishna, UP Police identified 10 core policing priorities, with cybercrime prevention and control designated as a key focus area. This led to structured, time-bound initiatives aimed at cyber awareness, training and institutional capacity building, officials said.Under DGP cybercrime Binod K Singh, more than 500 cyber awareness camps were organised across UP over the past eight months, officials said. Of these, 14 programmes saw the DGP (UP) participating online, directly sensitising over one lakh citizens.In parallel, cyber awareness programmes were conducted in all police stations, where officers and staff were trained by cyber experts to improve response time and investigation quality in digital fraud cases.A crucial contributor to the improved lien percentage was the strengthening of cyber response infrastructure. The 30-seater stand-alone cyber call centre at Kalli West, Lucknow, currently handles around 5,000 calls daily. An additional 30 seats are set to be added shortly, which will raise the call-handling capacity to 9,000 calls per day.Krishna warned that most cybercrimes stem from four factors — greed, negligence, addiction and fear (digital arrest). He cautioned citizens against schemes promising assured high returns, sharing OTPs or sensitive data, addictive online gaming, and fake threats of arrest or fines via video calls.“No law enforcement agency in India arrests or demands money online,” he stressed, urging citizens to remain alert and informed.
