Pune cybercrime cell records 19,358 complaints this year

The city cybercrime cell has received a staggering 19,358 complaints this year, making it the highest so far, with a total 19,023 complaints recorded in 2021; 14,950 in 2020; and 7,794 in 2019. Among the complaints filed this year, crimes related to loan applications and money, sextortion and cryptocurrency take the lead.

A sizeable chunk of the cases namely 3,469 involves applications that provide meagre loans to citizens upon access to their PAN card numbers, contacts and personal details. A processing fee is deducted from the loan amount and the remaining amount is deposited into the customer’s bank account. However, within just a few days, these borrowers start receiving calls and messages threatening them with dire consequences in the event the loan is not repaid. The senior police inspector of the cybercrime cell said that the accused in these crimes are mostly from areas outside Pune.

Along with crimes related to loan applications, there is a rise in cases of sextortion this year with a total 1,457 such complaints filed, up from 682 in 2021. The modus operandi in these cases is to get access to screen recordings of victims interacting with nude women and using the same to blackmail them. The accused pretend to be Delhi police officials or YouTube managers.

Shrinivas Ghadge, deputy commissioner of police, economic offences wing (EOW) and cybercrime, said, “Cases of sextortion and loan application frauds have seen a stark rise in 2022. Not only laymen but even informed citizens are getting trapped in this net of cybercrime.”

Out of the total complaints received by the cyber cell, around 472 are related to fake text messages seeking payment of bills sent by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) as bait for victims to provide bank details. Whereas about 151 complaints are related to cryptocurrency, with the accused demanding money for the purchase of currencies such as bitcoin and Ethereum that are never supplied to the victims.

Rizwan Shaikh, chief technology officer, Pristine InfoSolutions Pvt Ltd, said, “The increase in cases can be attributed to the easy accessibility of digital mediums for which the pandemic has provided a platform. Technically smart people with no jobs and financial savvy end up committing these cybercrimes.”

In October, the commissioner of police Amitabh Gupta had directed all police stations to register cases with respect to certain complaints. Only cases dealing with sums of money over Rs25 lakh, critical cases and cryptocurrency crimes are being tackled by the cybercrime cell which has a workforce of around 100 police officers and 12 investigators supervising the cases in all police stations across Pune.

“This issue is not just restricted to Pune but is global in nature. Any hacker from any point of the globe can access one’s details and misuse the information. That increases the need for awareness among citizens about hackers and their methods,” Ghadge said.

When a monetary fraud is reported within the first few hours of the crime having been committed, the chances of retrieval of the money are greater. This period is called the ‘golden hour’ during which transactions are frozen and money is recovered from the payment gateway. The cybercrime cell has various awareness programmes to ensure the citizens’ safety. The national helpline number for reporting cybercrimes is 1930 with a provision to register complaints online at cybercrime.gov.inas well