OLX to honour law enforcement authorities for their efforts in curbing cyber fraud

In a bid to recognise and support the police authorities for their efforts towards curbing cyber frauds, OLX, the classified platform, has launched an initiative that will acknowledge the efforts made by the police departments and officials across India who have been instrumental in apprehending cybercriminals and solving cases of cybercrimes.

In the first edition of the initiative, OLX officials recently felicitated 22 officers from the Alwar police department for their efforts towards bringing to justice fraudsters involved in cases related to defrauding OLX users in the state of Rajasthan. OLX will work closely with the police departments across India to recognise such officers and highlight the key initiatives undertaken by the police to curb the spread of cyber fraud in India.

OLX has launched a slew of initiatives in the last one year to tackle the growing menace of cybercrime on the platform. Under these initiatives, OLX will promote cybersafety in various ways, including product updates via artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, user safety guidelines and a digital campaign on social media. Taking the initiative offline, OLX has partnered with Cyber Peace Foundation, a leading think-tank and NGO to conduct cybersafety awareness workshops across the states of Haryana and Karnataka in the first phase. Since July 2019, OLX and Cyberpeace have conducted over 30 workshops and trained over 11000 students, professionals, teachers in cybersafety awareness.

OLX has also focused on strengthening its relationship with the law enforcement authorities across India, in order to bring cybercriminals to justice and successfully address the grievances faced by users on the platform. In 2018, OLX launched a dedicated ‘Trust and Safety Helpline’ for law enforcement authorities handling any such cases to expedite the process of identifying the cybercriminals for a quick redressal. OLX assists the law enforcement authorities by sharing details on the fraudsters such as IP addresses, phone numbers, email ids and account details in order to apprehend the fraudsters. The trust and safety helpline number +91 9999140999, and email id  safety@olx.in is monitored round the clock by OLX to provide quick redressal to the authorities. Additionally, OLX also enables users to contact this helpline and report any incidents. OLX also assists the users by helping them with the legal processes associated with filing a case around such fraudulent activities.

Talking about the Cyber Rakshak Awards, Lavanya Chandan, Director, OLX India, said, “The recent rise in the number of cybercrimes across digital platforms has exerted an enormous toll on all stakeholders, be it the consumers, online businesses, or law enforcement agencies. In the pursuit to combat cybercrime in the country, law enforcement officers have been the unsung heroes who have tirelessly been working to address this growing menace. Cyber Rakshak Awards is a platform where we aim to recognise the contribution of these officers and thank them for their efforts. As an industry leader, setting up these awards is part of our overall resolve and efforts to combat cybercrime. We express immense gratitude to the Alwar police department with whom we have been working tirelessly to apprehend fraudsters duping users on OLX.”

Paris Deshmukh, Superintendent of Police, Alwar, said, “OLX has provided immense support to our cybercrime and police departments when it comes to speedily resolving cases on cyber fraud. We would like to thank OLX for recognising our efforts towards apprehending these cybercriminals and bringing them to justice. I would like to use this opportunity to convey that addressing the issue of cyber safety will need to be a collective effort. In order to address this menace, public institutions, legal bodies, and private individuals must come together to ensure that the internet is a safe and inclusive space for all. We look forward to strengthening our relationship and co-operation with OLX in order to address this challenge.”

OLX’s role in connection with cybercrimes is threefold. One, to prevent fraudsters from entering the platform which it achieves through its robust technology filters and site auditors. Second, educating users on how to transact safely on the platform. It does this by investing heavily both in-platform education, offline workshops and through social media channels. And finally, OLX reacts swiftly to frauds that have taken place where its Trust and Safety helpline provides users with an effective means to report fraud and for law enforcement agencies to expedite their information request to solve cases before them.

These initiatives come on the back of research that OLX conducts regularly to ascertain the level of awareness of internet users towards cybersafety. As per a recent research study by OLX, 67% of Indian internet users said they skipped the terms and conditions or any other safety/legal guidelines while signing up to a website or using a product.

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