Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
More than 400 citizens in the city lost over Rs 6 crore in cybercrime during in the last seven months. Among them, the number of educated people is more illiterate persons. However, the police managed to recover Rs 54.96 lakh out of it. Police are still trying to complete the court process for the remaining amount.
There has been increasing usage of smartphones over the past ten years. With the Internet, it became easy to get information from all over the world with a single click. Because of this, the number of cyber crimes increased faster than local crimes like fraud, burglary and robbery.
Due to a lack of cyber literacy, many people easily fall into the trap of cybercriminals. Credit cards, share markets, cryptocurrency, and work-from-home are the most common types of fraud and a large section, from 14-year-old children to 60-year-old persons are falling prey to online fraud.
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A total of 3,868 citizens fell victim to online fraud in 2023. Of them, the police managed to resolve 1,932 complaints. However, the same remained pending. In 2024, registration of cases is underway in some of the complaints.
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54 L got back
The cyber police received more than 400 complaints this year. Police succeeded in getting Rs 54.96 lakh and returned to the complainants.
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Rs 3.54 Cr may be taken back
Besides Rs 54 lakhs, cyber police have frozen Rs 3.54 crore amount of fraud so far. “Since the first complaint is made on the online portal, the police along with the complainant has to go through a lengthy court process to recover this amount. “As a result, it is taking time,” officials said.
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Year – Complaints of fraudRs 6 cr stolen online; got Rs 54 lakh back
2021 - 1,308
2022 - 2,852
2023 - 3,868
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Efforts are on
Along with the police station, complaints are now being made directly on the central government's cybercrime portal. From there, the respective bank account is frozen. Continuous efforts are being made to get back the money of the complainant in a short time.
(Geeta Bagwade, Incharge Inspector, Cyber Police Station).