There has been a sharp rise in online transactions after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across the country. This has also resulted in the rise of online fraud or cheating cases. whether it is either QR code fraud or cheating through social media advertisements, there are numerous incidents of cyber crimes reported during the pandemic.
Well, Navi Mumbai witnessed a whopping 213% rise in cyber-crimes during 2020.
In 2020, the Navi Mumbai police received a total of 232 complaints related to cyber-crimes which was just 74 in 2019. The detection has also come down during 2020 as only 9 percent or 21 cases of cyber-crime have been solved. Even in 2019, the police solved 16% of cases of cyber-crimes.
Bipin Kumar Singh, police commissioner of Navi Mumbai police admits that it is very difficult to solve cases related to IT or cyber-crime. “It is difficult to solve cyber-crimes as the person who committed the crime may be sitting in a different part of the country or cities,” said Singh. He added that they do not delay in registering online cheating cases.
Singh said that at present only inspector level officers can be assigned IT-related cases. “We have sought permission from the government to allow police sub-inspector level officials to investigate the cases,” said Singh. He added that they have around 25 to 30 officers, experts in Cyber-crimes in Cyber cell which need to be increased. “If PSI level officers are allowed to investigate, we will have more manpower to work on IT-related crimes,” said Singh.
In 2020, they received 4 Facebook related online fraud, 104 online transactions, 15 cases of card cloning, 57 cases of QR code, and 32 OLX related.
