Andhra Pradesh is shifting toward a proactive cyber crime prevention model, deploying new tech-driven strategies, rapid recovery processes, and extensive training to combat online scams and financial frauds more effectively.
Andhra Pradesh has stepped up its cyber crime response with a strategy that puts prevention, faster recovery and tighter coordination at the centre of policing, Chief Secretary G. Sai Prasad said on Thursday. Speaking at the 53rd PRAGATI meeting, chaired by Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary P.K. Mishra, he said the state is moving away from a purely reactive model and toward a system designed to stop fraud before money disappears. According to the state, the effort is aimed at digital arrests, online financial fraud and other fast-moving scams that increasingly depend on speed, deception and cross-border networks.
The latest push builds on measures introduced in May, when Andhra Pradesh Police launched AP Cyber Guard, a 90-day action plan focused on rapid complaint handling and recovery during the so-called golden hour after a fraud is reported. Around the same time, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu ordered the rollout of a zero FIR mechanism for cybercrime complaints so banks could be alerted immediately and fraudulent transfers could be blocked sooner. Sai Prasad said the state has now set up the State Cyber Coordination Centre, or S4C, in line with 14C guidelines, and has introduced e-Zero FIR registration through the national cyber crime portal and the 1930 helpline.
Officials said the new recovery tools are already delivering results. The money restoration module, piloted in May 2026, helped recover ₹1.56 crore for victims of cyber financial fraud in the past three months, while the grievance redressal portal has resolved 358 complaints. Andhra Pradesh also said the Sahyog Portal has been used to move against 22,024 illegal URLs linked to 2,713 request IDs, resulting in 14,903 URLs being removed or disabled. Through the Samanvaya Portal, the state handled thousands of inter-state requests and recorded 57 cases, 103 accused profiles and 1,294 inter-state linkages, underlining how cyber investigations now depend as much on coordination as on police work.
The state is also leaning on data analysis and training. Sai Prasad said the Pratibimb Module examined ATM IDs, NCRP acknowledgements and transactions worth ₹6.85 crore, identifying 2,782 mule accounts and 335 suspicious mobile numbers for further action. He added that 13 police personnel have completed Cyber Commando training, with more than 60 awaiting it, and that Andhra Pradesh aims to train 500 cyber commandos over the next three years through the CyTrain Portal. Separately, the state conducted 89,260 cyber awareness programmes last financial year, targeting students, women and senior citizens as part of a broader effort to build a preventive cyber security culture rather than rely only on after-the-fact enforcement.
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