Telangana: Sharp decline in old' frauds after demonetisation

Hyderabad: Nearly a month after demonetisation, the number of cases reported to the police has decreased. Cases of frauds like, backdoor entry jobs, romance, investment and similar cases have almost stopped after demonetisation. At least 10 to 15 complaints used to be lodged with cybercrime police stations every week, but  only two cases were reported in the last three weeks.

In financial fraud cases, people were made by scamsters to deposit money in their bank accounts. But now, no one is ready to deposit such money, police say. The police is, however, not taking this situation for granted and are expecting a surge in similar crimes in the future. “Either this trend will continue, with fewer offences, or this is a lull before a new wave of financial fraud through online banking starts,” cautioned a senior policeman from the Cyber Crime police station.

He said that after demonetisation, when a large number of people began switching to electronic transactions, the police had expected a spurt, but this has not happened so far. In financial crimes, phone and Internet are used to make conventional bank transactions. “The fraudsters convince the victims to deposit money in a bank account, promising a large sum or job. The victims deposit the cash in the accounts, which are mostly owned by the scammer’s agents. The scammer then withdraws the money through ATMs. This procedure has been disrupted fully after demonetisation. The overcrowded banks do not allow the victim to deposit cash and the overcrowded ATMs do not allow the scammer to operate smoothly,” said the officer.

At just one Cyber Crime police station in Cyberabad, more than seven cases used to be registered a week. Now, only one or two complaints are registered, after demonetisation, said Inspector Md. Riyazuddin.

Nigerians are the big losers:

Nigerian scamsters and those offering fake jobs may be the most-hit post demonetisation. These two groups had a number of bank accounts under different names to collect money from victims. Since conventional bank transfers are difficult due to the rush, the cheats have lost out. “These two groups get dummy bank accounts opened in the name of different people by paying them a commission. Nigerians especially need a local bank account to pull off the scam. So far, 99 per cent of the cash earned by Nigerian scamsters was through these bank accounts. But now that is nearly impossible,” said a senior police official.

In the dozens of scams reported earlier in Hyderabad, rarely have online bank transactions taken place.  "Most victims are not well educated in digital transactions. Only one or two people, who were cheated in the name of job offers from the UK, had transferred money online," said the officer. Cyber crime experts say the scammers might be preparing to come up with more creative ways to loot people in the new situation.