Gurugram: In first 6 months, more cyber fraud cases than last year

GURUGRAM: More cases related to cheating, cyber fraud and crime against children have been reported in the last six months as compared to the previous year, shows police data. The number of cases of other categories, however, decreased during this period.
Police said the decline was mainly due to the lockdown that had been put in place in late March.
While there was a 137.5% increase in the number of cases related to cheating and fraud — from 256 in 2019 to 608 this year, cases registered under the POCSO Act for crimes against children increased by 14.5%, from 62 last year to 71 this year. Cyber crime cases saw a big jump too — 80.4% — from 51 in the first half of 2019 to 92 this year so far.
“Gurugramis the commercial capital of the state and many companies have their offices here. It makes the city a fertile ground for financial and property fraud,” said a senior police officer.
The officer added that more people were spending time on mobile phones during the lockdown, and they often became targets for fraud.
“We have been issuing advisories to make people aware about such crimes,” said the officer.
The number of rape cases are down from 73 last year to 54 this year, shows the data.
Suman Sharma, a social worker, said women and children were the most vulnerable during the lockdown. “Crime against women and children has increased across the globe during this pandemic as in many cases, they face harassment from known people – family members – inside the house,” said Sharma.
Police commissioner Mohammad Akil said that overall, there had been a significant dip in crime and several criminals had been arrested during the lockdown. “Most of the crimes were solved within days,” he said.