Online fraud is now the most common crime in the Millennium City. The fraudsters are using novel techniques to defraud people. The fraudsters are sending lucrative web links through emails by morphing their mobile phone identities to attract the victims.
Police officers said they are finding it tough to trace cyber cheats as the e-mails and mobile numbers used by them to entice gullible people were fake ones. The criminals are using multiple fake mobile apps to dupe unsuspecting victims.
According to a senior police official, “Around 1,172 complaints have been pertaining to online crime till March 12 of this year. Out of these 337 cases were solved while 835 complaints are pending investigation. In the previous year around 4,620 complaints were received in which 3,705 were resolved while 915 complaints were yet to be solved.
“The fraudsters have changed their modus operendai as they are targeting people by sending e-mails, creating fake IDs on social media. In many of the cases, tricksters used social networking sites and masqueraded as females to fox people into their trap. They send explicit videos and even indulged in sex chat and later blackmailed to extort money,” said Inspector Suresh Kumar, the cyber crime cell incharge.
In some of the cases, the cyber thugs even cheated jobless people by offering them lucrative jobs and in turn duped them by taking money. “The culprits often fake job sites and once the victim fills their account details on the websites, the cyber criminals extract money from their accounts,” Kumar said.
“The only way to avoid this trap is awareness. People should not reveal their bank details to anyone because banks never ask any account holder’s details on phone. Only authenticated websites should be used in the online transaction,” said Karan Goyal, Assistant Commissioner of Police (cyber crime).
“We have also instructed the bank officials of the several banks they must take quick actions on the complaints. If they fail to take any action, penal action would be initiated,” the ACP added.
Cyber cell sleuths also blame easy access to information and technological advancement for the spike in cyber crime cases. Net banking has made it easy for the cyber criminals to siphon off money from accounts and such frauds take time in being ersolved, said an official with the cyber cell.
