Cybercrooks plunder Rs32 crore from Vizagites in 2023, property loss increased by over 94 per cent

VISAKHAPATNAM: Despite awareness drives and a few other initiatives, Vizag remains the top city in the state in terms of cybercrime. Although cybercrime incidents in Vizag city decreased by over 30% in 2023 compared to the previous year, enforcement officials note that cybercriminals are becoming increasingly tech-savvy and employing innovative means to dupe people, leaving law enforcement at a loss on how to tackle them.

Vizag witnessed more than 410 major cybercrime incidents in 2023, with cybercrooks stealing over Rs31.7 crore from Vizagites. In 2022, Vizag city recorded 610 cases of cybercrimes, and cybercriminals stole over Rs16.33 crore from netizens. In 2021, cybercrooks had stolen over Rs9.32 crore from Vizagites through various duping methods in 279 cases.

Many Vizagites lost a significant amount in the online part-time job scam, a prevalent cybercrime. This scam involves cybercriminals contacting targets and offering them part-time employment opportunities, requiring them to like, subscribe, and review posts.

Cases of online task game frauds are increasing in Vizag, Vijayawada, and a few other cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh. Victims have lost over Rs20 crore in this new trend of cyber frauds, and many victims have not come forward to complain. Cybercrooks are duping netizens, particularly unemployed youngsters, students, housewives, those working in BPOs and IT firms, and others, under the guise of task games.

Cybercrooks collect details of people from various job search sites and target them by luring them with online part-time jobs. Fraudsters send messages to their targets, redirecting them to separate WhatsApp groups where they are asked to write reviews for promised payments of Rs200 to Rs500, eventually falling victim to the fraud.

Apart from online part-time jobs, most complaints relate to downloading mirror apps. Scammers have found innovative ways to steal money as more netizens rely on online transactions for daily payments.

Fraudsters, pretending to be bank officers, call bank customers and ask them to download applications. Once screen sharing is enabled, cybercrooks sitting remotely can access information on the customer's mobile phone and use it to make transactions from the account holder's account, according to a senior police officer.

Vizag city police chief Dr. A Ravi Shankar stated that they have decided to strengthen the cybercrime police station in the city by deploying tech-savvy police personnel to deal with different modes of virtual frauds. In addition to strengthening the cyber-wing, they will collaborate with IT firms to provide training to the police to solve and mitigate new trends in cybercrimes.

Greed is one of the main reasons people fall prey to cybercrimes despite extensive exposure to its dangers. Interestingly, the majority of registered cybercrimes in Vizag city are under investigation, as the police struggle to identify and apprehend the accused.