Kolkata: Kolkata Police have placed the recovery and restoration of funds lost in cyber frauds at the top of their operational agenda, aiming to streamline process protocols and expedite refunds to victims across the city.
Official figures indicate that fund recovery currently stands at nearly 40%, up from approximately 30% a year ago. Under the updated Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), the recovery process for amounts below Rs 50,000 has been significantly simplified. Now, for amounts up to Rs 50,000, the victim’s bank directly notifies the police once funds are frozen.
During a high-level review meeting chaired by police commissioner Ajay Nand, senior officers of the detective department emphasized that returning stolen money to citizens remains the primary objective. To standardize procedures, officers have been instructed to strictly utilize the Money Restoration Module (MRM) integrated into the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP). The platform enables systematic tracking and retrieval of frozen funds without requiring victims to navigate multiple administrative hurdles. Police personnel then assist the victim in raising a request for an indemnity bond. After obtaining a notarized hardcopy from court, the victim submits it to Kolkata Police, who forwards the document to the bank to facilitate the direct refund. The cops have also been instructed to explain to victims how the MRM Portal shall work. Once a cyber-complaint is verified, authorized investigating officers enter critical transaction details into the MRM system, including the Transaction ID, UTR number, beneficiary account details, bank names, amount, and timestamp. The MRM platform then conducts an automated money trail analysis, tracing how the funds moved across primary and secondary beneficiary accounts to determine where the money currently resides.
Previously, a formal court order was mandatory to reclaim any frozen sum.
The investigating officer subsequently verifies the legitimacy of the transaction, examines the ownership of the beneficiary account to determine whether the holder is a suspect or an unwitting recipient, and checks for links to other fraud cases. Once procedural requirements are met, police coordinate with the banks to release the recoverable amount back to the victim.
When disputed funds are located, the concerned banks place an immediate debit freeze or mark a lien on the account to prevent further withdrawals or transfers while the investigation proceeds.