Ludhiana tops state in cybercrime cases

LUDHIANA: Ludhiana commissionerate tops the state in the number of cybercrime cases reported in 2019, as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report released recently. The number of cases in Ludhiana comprises 15% of the total cases in the state.
As per the NCRB report, cybercrime cases reported in Punjab were 243 in 2019, 239 in 2018, 176 in 2017 and 102 in 2016.
Of the 243 cases, maximum (37) were reported in Ludhiana commissionerate, followed by Sangrur district with 20 cases and SAS Nagar with 18. Jalandhar commissionerate saw 17 cases, Patiala 15, Amritsar commissionerate 11, Amritsar rural seven, Barnala eight, Batala three, Bathinda four, Faridkot three, Fazilka five, Gurdaspur nine, Hoshiarpur eight, Jalandhar rural eight, Khanna three, Moga 11, Muktsar seven, Mansa 11, Ropar 10 and Tarn Taran seven. Fourteen cases were reported by Bureau of Investigation.
The 37 cybercrime cases of Ludhiana commissionerate included 18 of cheating, six of cyber stalking and bullying of women and children under Section 354-D of the IPC, and four of cyber blackmailing and threatening, among others.
In Ludhiana commissionerate in 2018, as many as 24 cybercrime cases were reported, 33 in 2017 and 16 in 2016. Therefore, 2019 saw an increase of 54% as compared with 2018.
Cybercrime cases in Ludhiana are registered after a long investigation, which, in some cases, takes two to three years to complete. So, the number of complaints received every year is way more than the cases registered.