Following the rising prevalence of cybercrime, the City police have urged the public to exercise greater caution against emerging trends in cyber frauds.
The Cyber Crime police have been receiving an increasing number of complaints over the past few years. The cases have steadily increased from 2,199 in 2018 to 2,258 in 2019, 2,888 in 2020, 4,352 in 2021, and 5,970 in 2022.
This year, the police have already received 2,176 petitions as of July 20.
Duping OLX users (345) and financial frauds (327) are the highest among the cybercrime reported so far this year. Other cases pertain to instant loan applications, online trading, job frauds, fake social media profiles, and blackmailing with compromising content.
In a public advisory, the police cautioned citizens against falling prey to frauds using loan, remote access and auto-taxi travel booking apps, fraudulent matrimonial websites, job frauds, and honey traps.
Elaborating on the complexities of such cases, the law enforcers stated that investigating cybercrime was more taxing. The bank accounts of fraudsters often belonged to other States such as Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa, but their addresses often differ. Many times, the documents used to open bank accounts and obtain mobile connections are fake.
Besides, the mobile tower location of suspects shows their whereabouts in faraway places such as Kashmir, Pakistan border and northeastern States. The existing limitations of the police force pose immense difficulty in nabbing criminals from such regions. Assistance from the police in other States has been found wanting in such cases, the police stated.
With cybercrime affecting people in several States, the government has initiated efforts to press for a national-level coordination mechanism to bring together law-enforcing agencies.