Cyber-crime statistics of Mumbai police have revealed that they have registered 3,960 cases of cyber-crimes this year between January and October, of which 243 cases were detected and 395 persons have been arrested in these cases. During the same period last year, 2,369 cases were registered of which 356 cases were detected and 657 persons were arrested in the cyber-crime cases. Most cases of cyber-crimes registered this year were related to online cheating (1,817), followed by bank card fraud (1,138) and obscene email cases (321).
Analysis of online cheating cases which have been classified into eight components, has revealed that most of them are of frauds related to online purchases (172), followed by loan fraud (102), job fraud (92), customs gift fraud (67), fake website (48), investment fraud (28), matrimonial fraud (28), crypto-currency fraud (19), insurance and provident fund fraud (16) and admission related fraud (5).
Further analysis has revealed that this year 126 cases of fake social media profile / morphing emails / SMS had been registered, followed by sextortion (68), hacking (53), phishing / man-in-middle attack / spoofing mail (32), pornography (23), data theft (15), tampering of source code (7). There had been zero detection in cases of tampering of source code, the statistics have revealed.
“Cyber-crime cases are complicated and technical. It requires experts to analyse the data and do forensic probes. Many international companies sometimes don’t provide data. Criminals are using anonymisation techniques and VPN which makes investigation more difficult. Extra efforts are being put in to detect more cyber-crime cases,” said DCP Cyber, Balsing Rajput.
“Firstly, the number of FIRs registered are low. Many more cases need to be registered considering the number of complaints. Motivation in cyber-crime investigation is needed to improve detection. We need a cyber cadre that should have policemen with computer science or engineering background, who should be transferred within cyber police stations so that they continue to handle cyber-crime cases,” said Cyber-Crime Lawyer Dr Prashant Mali.
“Cyber-criminals operate from remote areas and also have support from locals. The police have had to travel a great distance time and again to get hold of them, which is difficult. Also, banking KYC is not effective as of now. Banking sector should not focus only on increasing targets of getting more accounts opened. There should be awareness among citizens on the advantages and disadvantages of remote access apps,” said Dr Mali.
“As there is an increase in use of online services and payments, the use of mobile phones have increased exponentially, hence there is rise in cyber-crime cases. Also, Mumbai police are very proactive in registering cyber-crime cases. The police is also allowing people to file their complaints online through www.cybercrime.gov.in portal and also helping people to recover money through 1930 helpline,” DCP Rajput.
Cyber-crime cases from Jan to Oct 2022
3960 - No of cyber-crime cases registered
243 - No of cases detected
395 - No of persons arrested
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Cyber-crime cases from Jan to Oct 2021
2369 - No of cyber-crime cases registered
356 - No of cases detected
657 - No of persons arrested
