Calls to internet helpline up by 50 per cent

The 1480 helpline for cyber safety addressed nearly 50 per cent more incidents in the second quarter of 2023 than it did in the same period in 2022, the education ministry said on Wednesday.

The data was published in a statement from the ministry’s pedagogical institute, the helpline’s coordinator, covering the period from April 1 to June 30 2023.

The 1480 helpline aims to provide counselling and support services to children and adolescents, young people, parents, teachers and the wider community, regarding the safe, responsible and ethical use of the Internet and digital technologies.

In the period covered by the data presented, a total of 1,098 people contacted the helpline, but 283 of those calls were not related to the services it provides but rather to information about benefits and aids handled by the labour ministry, the report said.

“The incidents related to the services of the 1480 helpline have increased by 38.4 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2023, while they have almost doubled compared to the corresponding report of 2022, an increase of 47.97 per cent,” it added.

This corresponds to 815 incidents in 2023 compared to 424 incidents in 2022.

Of the 815 callers about incidents that were relevant to the helpline’s services, the majority, 788 people, were adults, and only 19 were minors calling to report their personal difficulties online.

Meanwhile, seven calls were received from parents/guardians, who were calling about issues faced by their minor children.

Regarding the reasons for contacting the line, the majority of requests, 392 (35.8 per cent), related to cybercrime incidents such as privacy breaches (hacking), financial fraud or identity theft via social networks or email.

At the same time, a significant number of calls, 263 (23.9 per cent), related to issues falling under the category of technical support.

At the same time, 94 requests (8.6 per cent) concerned data privacy complaints and specifically cases of caller information being used to create accounts or illegal disclosure of caller information by other users.

The report made note of the increasing trend observed in the reporting of incidents of sexual extortion (sextortion) (31 incidents), which shot up by 25.8 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2023 (21 incidents) and by 61.3 per cent compared to corresponding 2022 report (12 incidents), demonstrating that it is a significant problem.

The 1480 helpline aims to provide continuous and quality advice and support, by trained officers, on issues related to the safe, responsible and ethical use of the internet, for children, adolescents and families.

All members of the public can contact the helpline by calling, anonymously and free of charge, the number 1480.

The helpline is open from 9am – 1pm and 3pm – 6pm from Monday to Friday, and from 10am to 1pm on Saturday.

It is also possible to reach the helpline by email at [email protected], or via online chat at https://www.cybersafety.cy/helpline-chat.