Loan call alert: 6,000 cyber fraud cases this year in Gurugram

GURUGRAM: The city has recorded 5,248 cyber fraud cases between January and May this year, reflecting an 18% increase from the 4,446 cases recorded during the same period last year, police data revealed.
At 838, April 2022 saw the lowest number of cases. January saw the highest, 1,200 cases, February saw 1,130 cases, March 1080, and May 1,000.
So far, the police have recorded an average of 1,049 cyber fraud cases per month this year. Last year, police recorded an average of 890 such cases per month during the first five months of the year.
This year, the highest number of cases are related to online banking and debit card fraud, with an average of 420 cases per month. The second highest is online cheating/fraud, with an average of 250 cases per month. Each month also saw 30 online and phone threats on an average. The rest of the cases include online harassment and other attacks.
“Online banking and debit card fraud form one-third of the total cases. It’s rampant, and we mostly receive complaints in the same domain. Cheating and fraud through the internet are also gaining prominence. Mostly it happens through fake social media accounts and links,” said ACP (cyber crime) Indiveer.
However, a new kind of cyber fraud has got the police worried. Fraud through the instant loan applications has been trending in Gurugram. The fraudsters lure people in the name of giving instant loans and gain access to their personal details, which they later misuse to extort money.
“A person in financial emergency relies on these loan applications for money. They provide their bank documents, access to contacts, pictures, etc., without a second thought because they are in an emergency. These apps take advantage of this vulnerability on the customer’s end and harass them by morphing their pictures or calling people in their contact list to extort money. Once a person gets entrapped, it becomes difficult to escape this vicious cycle because of social stigma,” said SHO (cyber crime) Bijender Kumar.
Police said they are working on awareness programmes and visiting school and colleges to impart lessons about cyber fraud, but the increase in crime is a sign of worry.
“We are visiting colleges and schools to make the youth aware of the new techniques of fraudsters so that they don’t fall into a trap. We also carry out awareness campaigns every month,” said SHO Kumar.