Cybercrimes have risen since the pandemic, as people have been forced to spend more of their lives online. With the tech revolution pushing them to their devices for work, play, and connecting, complaints of new online swindles too have increased.
According to online security experts in the state, Kerala is losing Rs 10 crore every month to such frauds.Official data show cybercrimes soared in 2023 compared to the previous years in the state. In five years, cybercrimes increased from 307 in 2019 to over 3,000 in 2023.
Fraud is among the most common offences, with fraudsters resorting to various tactics to con people out of cash. As such crimes have no geographic borders police face new challenges fighting as well as keeping track of them. The conviction rate is abysmally poor due to several practical difficulties in the probe.
In some cases, the victims receive fraudulent phone calls asking them to download an app or click on a link. In some other cases, they are trapped in parting with their own money with false promises of high returns.
The accused are often scattered in the northern states and operate bank accounts that have been created using fake identity cards, thereby hindering the efforts by the probe team to trace them.
Recently, the cyber police have started taking measures to freeze the accounts of fraudsters as soon as crimes are reported, and measures are also taken to retrieve lost money.
Cyber police categorize online frauds into various sections: bank fraud, instant loan app fraud, sextortion, e-commerce platform fraud, job fraud, hacking, identity theft, crypto scam, etc.
When it comes to cybercrimes, even the police are not spared. Recently, fraudsters swindled Rs 25,000 from the bank account of Thiruvananthapuram city police.
The accounts officer at the police commissionerate, who received a fake message to update KYC details, was tricked into giving the scammers access to the account. In minutes, Rs 25,000 was stolen from the police’s account in the SBI’s Jagathy branch.
Though such scams are happening on a large scale, many go unreported due to a lack of awareness and reluctance on the part of victims to take legal recourse.
In a major case of financial fraud, unidentified men siphoned off Rs 2.25 crore from the account of a 72-year-old man in Thiruvananthapuram by threatening to trap him in a drug case in November last year.
The victim was contacted by a person impersonating a courier employee, who claimed a parcel was sent from his address to Taiwan. The man also informed the elderly man that the courier contained 50gm of MDMA and five fake passports and that Mumbai police had seized the courier.
Hours later, the victim was contacted by another person who introduced himself as the sub-inspector of the Mumbai cybercrime wing. The ‘officer’ informed him that the CBI had registered a case against him and shared with him a copy of the FIR. Finally, the man was psychologically tricked and manipulated by the criminals into transferring Rs 2.25 crore to them.
This is not just an isolated incident, as more people are being targeted by fraudsters who have unchecked access to a growing pool of victims.
Another person from the state capital was recently tricked into giving away Rs 56 lakh to fraudsters who impersonated CBI officers.
A growing number of young job aspirants are also among those who fall victim to cyber fraud. A Kochi-based healthcare professional recently lost Rs 2 lakh in an online job scam.
In a similar case, a young woman, who was offered the opportunity to earn money sitting at home by writing reviews for various firms, was allegedly cheated out of Rs 13 lakh, according to police.
Another frequent scam is ‘advance fee fraud’—crimes where the victims are tricked into giving away money after a communication.
Crypto-currency frauds are also on the rise in the state. A Kozhikode-based man lost Rs 90 lakh a few months ago in a cryptocurrency fraud.
In what could be the country’s first deep fake con, another Kozhikode resident lost Rs 40,000 after cybercriminals used deep fake AI technology and posed as a former colleague in a WhatsApp video call in dire need of hospital funds.
Cybercrime experts and police officers said it is important for the public to remain cautious against cybercrimes. “People must be very alert while doing financial transactions online.
They must not share OTP or install remote access apps. People who get cheated must register complaints at the toll-free number 1930 and also on www. cybercrime.gov.in immediately,” said P P Karunakaran, assistant commissioner, Thiruvananthapuram cybercrime police station.