Cyber crooks stole Rs 9 cr from Vizagites this year

Visakhapatnam: In a major shift in conduct of thefts, fraudsters have made more money by sneaking into the accounts of Vizagites than striking at their houses. With technology becoming the silver lining during the Covid-19 pandemic as personal interactions and businesses moved online, cyber crooks stole over Rs 9.24 crore from Vizagites by duping them using various methods this year.
Though the cybercrime cases slightly decreased by over 13 per cent in Vizag city in 2021 compared to 2020, the property loss is more than 50 per cent this year compared to last year.
A total of 307 cybercrimes were registered in Vizag city in 2021 while it was 354 in 2020. Cyber fraudsters looted Rs 6.13 crore in 2020.
Of the total 307 cybercrimes, 104 cases relate to part time job, OLX and loan frauds.
Inspector of cybercrimes police station, Vizag, RVRK Choudhary, said taking advantage of the pandemic situation, cybercrooks came up with innovative ideas to dupe the people through part-time job offers, ‘earn more money from home’ and a few other false promises.
Property lost in offline offences have come down in Vizag city. But cases of property loss in online frauds have been increasing. “The whopping amount that was siphoned off by online crooks indicates that that police will have to deal with different types of crimes in the coming days,” the police added.
Police said apart from job and loan frauds, 45 cases relating to One-Time-Password (OTP), 30 cases relating to Nigerian frauds (lottery and matrimonial frauds) and 32 cases of social media abuse were reported in Vizag city in 2021.
Due to the Covid-19 situation, the police couldn’t visit other states as part of investigations into cybercrimes. Police managed to arrest only 21 accused in 18 cases in 2021.
Underscoring that awareness is the only tool to escape cyber fraud, RVRK Choudhary advised that no matter whoever calls you, never disclose your confidential information and don’t make insecure transfer of money online. He said scammers also use fake apps to steal money from people. Sometimes, crooks ask smartphone users to download an application that gives them remote access to their mobile phone and steal money. So, people shouldn’t download any mirror apps,” he added.