In a bid to put a check on cyber crime in Jamtara and channelise the energy of the youth there, the government has started opening public libraries in villages of the district, which has won the infamy of being the cyber crime capital of India, officials from the Jamtara district administration said on Sunday.

Young boys and girls of the district, who fell prey to the lure of easy money and turned cyber frauds, will now read the best of books free of cost at the public libraries and help Jamtara drop the tag of being a district that has bred several notorious cyber frauds, officials said.

“The government has started public libraries in several blocks of Jamtara. Some of the libraries have been set up at panchayat bhawans in the district in order to provide easy access to books to the youth of the district,” said Jamtara deputy commissioner, Faiz Ahmed Mumtaz.

Such public libraries have started operating in at least 33 of 118 panchayats in the district, and the government aims to build at least one library in each of the 118 panchayats in Jamtara, officials said. The libraries already offer books like the Discovery of India, Indian Economy and India After Gandhi. By reading books, children will not only enhance their knowledge, but also develop the urge to contribute to the society and work for their country, officials said.

Jamtara is home to several gangs of teenage cybercriminals, who have duped several rich and educated people living in the metros, say police. Around 200 Kilometers north of Ranchi, Jamtara is said to be the Indian equivalent of the Romanian town of Ra^mnicu Va^lcea, dubbed Scamville, which is the global capital for cyber criminals. Last year, Netflix released a web series on the cyber criminals of Jamtara and named it ‘Jamtara – Sabka Number Ayega’.

According to police, cyber criminals in Jamtara are most dependent on phishing, a procedure in which cyber frauds disguise as trustworthy representatives of banks and finance companies over phone calls and ask for personal banking details of their target.

Teenagers in the district often learn phishing and minor cyber frauds from their older counterparts and this trend has gradually led to Jamtara becoming a hotbed of cyber crime, say local sources. Cyber crime gangs have also spread their reach to the neighbouring districts of Deoghar, Dumka, Giridih and Dhanbad, reveal records with the state police.

Besides preventing youths from joining gangs of cyber criminals, the libraries are also expected to help children prepare for their class 10 and class 12 board exams this year, said the Jamtara DC.