Bengaluru: Business opportunity frauds on the rise

BENGALURU: About seven cases of business opportunity fraud are being registered per month in the city this year, marking an increase from last year. A total of 22 cases of data theft were registered until April 1, out of which three to four cases were booked per month at the Cyber Crime Police Station (CCPS).

Last month, a 32-year-old worker with an online tutoring website was accused of revealing company secrets and selling their products to its competitors in a bid to make profit. In another case, a former employee of a software company in the city allegedly used its software and technical know-how at his new company.

Earlier this year, the police had arrested two management-level employees in Mahadevapura for allegedly stealing data and swindling money from their technology firm in what the police claimed to be a rare case involving tech workers.

“Mostly, former employees indulge in data theft as an act of revenge against the employer. The companies sign an agreement with firms that can detect their work being copyrighted. They then file a complaint with the police station or CCPS,” M Chandrappa, police inspector, CCPS, said.

An increase in the number of data theft cases is also being observed. “With technology getting advanced, it is getting difficult to track data theft cases,” a senior police official said. CCPS is now in talks with IT firms to use updated software to track cyber crimes.

Last year, crucial data of at least 382 Bengaluru citizens were found on Darknet, after hackers targeted police websites. The leaked data included passport numbers, names, residential addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.