In 2021, Mumbai Police recorded an 18 percent increase in cybercrime – a trend that reflects a growing tribe of digital criminals who are steadily increasing their profits without risking street violence.
While Mumbai, like most cities around the world, has seen a significant increase in cyber scams, with the Internet replacing the real world as a victim of criminals, the Mumbai Police faces the challenge of tracking these cases. are falling, which often do not go. Without reporting, and in catching the masterminds who operate without geographical boundaries.
Recently, at Mumbai Police’s annual crime conference, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Milind Bharambe admitted that tackling cybercrime was a “challenging issue” and spoke at length about why such cases are difficult to solve. Was. While records show that only 2,883 cybercrime cases were registered in 2021, senior officials privately agree that many more cases in which the amount involved could be less are not registered in police stations. Even the detection of reported cases was very low – only 455 of the 2,833 cases were detected at 16 per cent.
The low detection is mainly due to the modus operandi used by the accused who operate their criminal enterprises from distant states and cover their tracks with sophisticated software.
The most common way to scam money is by asking gullible victims to disclose their personal financial details and use this information to withdraw money from their bank accounts or electronic wallets. Another method is the simple trick of trust whereby the fraudsters gain the trust of the victims and voluntarily transfer large sums of money into their accounts.
The difficulty in locating them is mainly due to the areas from which criminals choose to operate. The first such hotspot was Jamtara in Jharkhand.
JCP Bharambe said, “There are many cyber hotspots on the map of the country, especially the villages from where these cyber criminals operate. These areas are strategically selected in naxal areas, deserted or hilly areas to ensure that the police forces find it difficult to reach there.
He said that some of these hotspots operate from different states like Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar and Rajasthan. Of late, according to several reports, Mewat, Bharatpur and Mathura, which form the tri-junction of Haryana, Rajasthan and UP, are being called the “new Jamtara”, as it was found that most of the cyber crimes were committed from this place. They went. Area. It was found that whenever the police chase them, the accused keep roaming between these three states.
One of the first buffers against arrests by counterfeiters is targeting victims from other states. In most of the cases, the fake calls being made to Mumbai came from Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. City or state police have to travel to other states and seek help from other units to hunt down criminals at these places.
Another reason for under detection is the apathy of the police who think twice before sending their teams to far-flung places for fear of being charged what they see as a “small amount”. An official said that if a person has suffered a loss of around Rs 40,000-50,000, sending a team of five-six personnel after the accused would cost more than the amount lost by the victim.
Some of the cases in which the police teams went to far flung areas and arrested the accused, there are some cases in which the loss amounting to lakhs has been done. Even last year five new cyber police stations were started in the city to tackle this menace, which take complaints only of cases in which the loss amounting to more than Rs 10 lakh. Provided that most cases involving lesser amounts are bound to go unsolved, even police stations are reluctant to “spoil their figures” by converting complaints into FIRs.
Under these circumstances, most victims have no choice but to leave the money lost to cybercrime.
The only scenario where a victim can recover their money is if they alert the police or the bank within an hour of the fraud being committed and ensure that the transaction is reversed.
The setting up of five cyber crime police stations in the last one year has also helped in increasing the number of solved cases. In 2021, even though the overall detection rate in cyber crime cases was 16%, it was 59% in cyber crime police stations. “Victims in cyber crime cases should go to the police station within the ‘golden hour’ – within an hour of the crime being committed.
This makes it easier to stop money transfers,” former Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale had said.
Cyber expert Ritesh Bhatia said a federal agency with units in several states is needed to resolve the situation. “Given these crimes originating from different hotspots in the country, there is a need for a federal agency having units in different states. If you send a police team from Mumbai to another state every time a cyber fraud happens, the team will be there permanently.
Tomorrow Part 2: Cyber Crime and Its Victims