Nearly 700 people falling prey to cyber crimes in Delhi every day: DCP Cyber Crime Cell
The Hindu
Deputy Commissioner of Police warns of rising cyber fraud in Delhi, urging victims to report crimes promptly.
Every day at least 700 people are falling prey to cyber frauds in the national capital alone and the menace has exploded in the last 18 months with most of the crimes resulting from ignorance, greed and fear of the victims, the Deputy Commissioner of Police of the Cyber Crime Cell, Hemant Tiwari, said on Friday.
The cyber helpline number 1930 receives, on average, 55,000 to 60,000 calls per month or 1,700 per day, of which 700 to 800 are new complaints, every day, the DCP said in an interaction with PTI. The numbers, which are for Delhi alone, suggest that the problem may be far more grim nationwide.
“These calls are related to mostly financial and other miscellaneous frauds. In fact, out of these 700 calls, 200-250 pertain to financial frauds. The cyber criminals usually feed on three things - ignorance, greed and fear of the victim. Traditional crimes like cheating and theft have now transcended into the cyber space,” the officer said.
Citing an example, Mr. Tiwari said that the police recently investigated a case where a man ended up losing ₹22 crore just because he wanted to double his investment.
The other calls pertain to sextortion, digital arrest, matrimonial website frauds and cheating on the pretext of offering work from home opportunities.
Mr. Tiwari, who also has an MBBS degree and once worked as a junior resident in the MCD-run Bara Hindu Rao Hospital, said scamsters also send out emails to victims saying they have been found scanning child pornography websites and action will be taken against them by law enforcement agencies. In probing multiple such cases, the unit has been successful in making 180 arrests.
The Delhi Police has investigated financial frauds worth over ₹500 crore from January this year, till now, while the Cyber Crime unit is investigating frauds worth ₹200 crore.