61 cyber cases booked in 9 months

Mangaluru: Cyber crimes are increasing by the day and a terrifying point has come to surface that even educated people are falling prey to such crimes. Amidst this, solving cases is a big question for the cyber police which are already suffering from many deficiencies.

In D.K. district, especially in Mangaluru, youth are losing money after responding to suspicious calls and messages. The cyber police which began functioning from last October has already registered 61 cases and received more than 70 complaints in a pan of 9 months.

32 lakh rupees fraud

The important case is the Nigerian fraud case were the victim is made to believe that they have won a prize and are robbed of money amounting up to 32 lakh rupees. Credit card fraud, withdrawing of money by procuring OTP and cases regarding marriage have also been registered. In a few small cases, the money has been recovered. However nothing has been ascertained in big cases.

Non-cooperative banks

When investigating cyber crime, for further information we approach banks for details, but the staff do not provide proper cooperation, accuse the cyber police station officials. There are more cases in relation to SBI credit card. There are also cases related to Bajaj Finance.

Do not give your OTP

Fraudsters will call in the guise of bank officials and with the excuse of linking Aadhaar number or any other reason will ask for OTP number. If given, they will withdraw the money using the OTP. They also call in the guise of OLX and convince that they are either customs, military or police officials. They also put a photo on whatsapp to convince the victim. No matter who asks, do not give your OTP, advice the police.

Aadhar through illiterates

The fraudsters meet illiterates, pay them money, create Aadhar cards and through it open bank accounts and then they themselves manage it. In this way, they transfer the money they make through ulterior method into their accounts.

Most of the accused are from north India and talk in Hindi language. They send the message in English. All the cases registered in Mangaluru Cyber police station are in relation to places like West Bengal, Noida, Jharkand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Bhopal, Assam and other states.

Lack of basic facilities

There is a lack of basic facilities ta the cyber police station and managing work is quite difficult. Lack of staff and technology trained officials/staff are not there. Cyber crime is related to information technology. To solve this, at least a B.Sc/M.Sc trained staff or computer engineers must be appointed. This is not possible for the common police. To make proper use of them, proper training must be provided to them. Also they must be beyond the transfer protocol, suggests a senior police official.

Attempt to raise awareness

“Strangers or suspicious people try to do fraud through various methods, and the media gives enough regular awareness on it. Even then people get duped over and over again. No one should fall prey to the messages, phone calls and emails sent by strangers,” says Mangaluru Police Commissioner, T.R. Suresh.