Counseling and training aim to divert the youth of Mewat from cybercrime

A unique intervention launched in Mewat region of northeastern Rajasthan has sought to divert the youth from the cybercrime that has made Bharatpur and Alwar districts notorious. Over the past two years, rural areas in the two districts have become hubs of cyber fraud, with innocent people being cheated and extorted for money.

‘Cyber ​​fraudsters’ from Mewat have not only cheated people in Rajasthan but also in far-flung states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Assam. Investigations have traced the cyber criminals to Mewat, prompting the police to launch a campaign against cybercrime and launch a crackdown on the network of ‘fraudsters’.

Police’s ‘Operation Anti-Virus’ has revealed that a large number of youths from the Meo community are misleading people through investment inducements, fake digital arrests, threats of disconnection of utilities and sextortion.

Several ‘scammers’ have created fake pages on Facebook under the guise of women and tried to lure men into friendship, then blackmail them for money.

Fake gold stones, coins

These youths, in the age group of 17 to 30 years, were previously engaged in cheating people by selling fake gold stones and coins at low prices. In their changed methodThe scammers defrauded and blackmailed victims using their smartphones, despite the lack of a sophisticated network, leadership and criminal structure.

Police have arrested around 500 cyber fraudsters in Bharatpur district alone this year and call centres specifically catering to cybercrime have been discovered in villages.

Also, a large number of mobile phones, SIM cards, ATMs for money transfers and money counting machines were seized. The suspects’ illegal properties, which were built with the extorted money, were bulldozed.

Samriddh Bharat Abhiyan from Bharatpur has started establishing regular communication with the young men who are attracted to cybercrime and get involved in the fraud with their peers. The intervention was initially implemented by reaching out to the elders of the Meo community, who were invited to the madrassas in the region to interact with the activists who were willing to help the youth through counselling.

Held in madrassas

Abhiyan Director Sita Ram Gupta said The Hindu that madrassa teachers and elders of the community were encouraged to convince the youth not to indulge in cybercrime and to inform them about the legal consequences of their activities. These sessions have been organised so far in the seminaries at Kaman, Pahari and Gopalgarh in Bharatpur district.

Leading members of the Meo community agreed that the entire Mewat region, which also extends into neighbouring Haryana, was getting a bad name due to the criminal activities of some youths.

They pointed out that the main reason why young people are attracted to cybercrime is the high unemployment and lack of opportunities to earn an income in the region.

Mr Gupta said the Abhiyan would soon take steps to connect the Meo youth with initiatives like poultry farming, fish farming, beekeeping and skill development. A computer training centre has already been started in Kaman where a large number of youth have enrolled and are attending classes regularly.

Jobs for the local population

Jurehra Industrial Area in Bharatpur District provides employment opportunities to the local youth in sectors like oil and flour production, fat making, producing pickles and making corrugated boxes. Mr. Gupta said the development of the area would bring the Meo youth into the mainstream and divert them from the criminal circuit.

“The proximity of the Mewat region to Delhi, just 80 km away, will provide a market for the products,” Mr Gupta said. If the Abhiyan efforts succeed, there will be no need to open a special cyber crime police station in Deeg, which was approved recently.

A delegation of the Braj-Mewat Jan Jagriti Abhiyan met Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma during his visit to Bharatpur, his home district, earlier this week with a request to expose the youth to income-generating activities and organise awareness camps in all village communities to provide information about government schemes that can be useful to them.

According to M. Zubair Khan, chairman of Jan Jagriti Abhiyan, measures such as subsidies for opening poultry farms, setting up a fisheries institution and safe transportation of produce to Delhi markets would go a long way in connecting the Meo youth with profitable ventures and reducing the chances of them becoming victims of cybercrime.

The delegation also requested the CM to ensure that no innocent persons were arrested during the police operations.