Cyber Help Desk

For the past ten years, Cyber Awareness Welfare Society (CAWS) has been working closely with state and district cyber cells across India to fight cybercrime by dismantling fraud rings, providing digital evidence to investigating officers, conducting over 200 awareness workshops in both rural and urban communities, running a 24×7 citizen helpline, and receiving commendations from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi Police for rapid technical support. Building on this experience, CAWS has developed the Cyber Help Desk App, a free mobile application designed with two modules—one for normal citizens and another for police officers. The primary aim of the app is to empower citizens by raising awareness about cyber fraud, providing tools to check suspicious activities, and offering free support to file FIRs. At the same time, the app supports law enforcement investigations by giving police officers faster access to verified data through publicly and privately available APIs, significantly reducing delays of 10–50 days that typically occur in retrieving information from departments. Importantly, while the citizen module is open to everyone, the police module is strictly restricted—officers can only access it once they are verified by CAWS. To ensure fairness and responsible use, each registered account—citizen or police—is automatically credited with 300 API hits per month, free of cost, with no payment or subscription involved. The Cyber Help Desk App is a direct outcome of CAWS’s decade-long collaboration with law enforcement, and reflects its commitment to strengthen the fight against cybercrime in India. For citizens, it provides a shield of awareness, early detection of fraud, and simple mechanisms to escalate complaints without any charges. For the police, it streamlines investigations by consolidating data from trusted open and private APIs, thereby removing doubts about the source of information while ensuring speed and reliability. This public–private model not only builds on CAWS’s proven track record but also establishes a transparent, scalable, and citizen-friendly system that bridges the gap between the public and law enforcement. By bringing both awareness and investigation support onto a single platform, the app reduces victimization, saves investigative time, and creates a stronger nationwide response to cybercrime—all at zero cost to users.