Mumbai: Cybercrime in city rises by 78% in March

The cyber crime recorded in March this year in Mumbai has seen a 78 per cent rise when compared to the comparative figures of February, revealed data. The Mumbai Police attribute the sudden spike to the rise of credit card and online frauds, which are on a rife.

While the month of February recorded 534 cyber crime cases, last month there were over 952 cases, giving a boost of 78 percent to the Cyber crime in the city. According to the data released, a total of 952 cyber crimes were registered by the Mumbai Police ik the month of March, of which a whopping 357 included cheating and 350 were credit card and online frauds.

The type of online fraud cases registered included custom gift scams, purchase fraud, job fraud, insurance fraud, admission fraud, fake website fraud, investment fraud, matrimonial fraud, cryptocurrency fraud and loan fraud, among others. Cases of phishing attacks were also registered with the Mumbai Police, but with little difference over last year's figures in the corresponding period.

The police said that the cheating and online frauds have risen in the light of new modus operandi cropping up every now and then and by the time people learn about it, it is too late as they have already fallen prey to it.

Speaking about the spiking cheating frauds, police said that despite a rigorous awareness drive among the masses, especially the seniors, the fraudsters have come up with a listing fraud since over a year ago, and dupe citizens pretending to be customer care officials of hotels, companies and other businesses.

"The biggest alarm one can make out is when the fraudster seeks their bank details or asks the victim to download a screen sharing app. We have time and again asked the citizens to not reveal their privy data, but they are tricked into sharing it anyway. We appeal to the people to be wary of online fraudsters and not be trapped in these scams," said a senior cyber official.

In a comparative data, the sextortion cases too have doubled from 6 to 12 in March, while the creation of fake social media profiles have risen by 50 per cent from 19 to 33 in March, revealed that data.