Telangana: Cybercrime gangs going rural, phishing cases soar

Hyderabad: A majority of the victims of online phishing scams in the state now hail from remote villages, according to cybercrime officials. Conmen, according to the officials have now been focussing more on rural areas. “Cases of phishing, where conmen loot money after obtaining the PIN and CVV, are now on the rise in rural areas. In cities, such cases have come down these days,” said an official of the CID cybercrime unit. 

Despite awareness programmes through the local language, they are still falling prey to such gangs mostly based in North India, officials added. Several cases have been referred to the CID.  So far, around 900 cybercrime cases are registered in the state. Of these, 30 per cent are phishing frauds. “Most of the phishing scams take place in rural areas. A few people, who lose small amounts, just lodge the complaint and don’t pursue it,” the officials said.

In phishing calls, the caller introduces himself as a representative of a bank and asks the victim to part with his CVV, PIN details which are generally used to payments on recharge on e-wallets, phone service packs and for shopping. In 2016, 713 cyber fraud  cases were registered in the state, according to the NCRB data, and they were related to personal vengeance, sexual harassment, and phishing. The CID is now focusing more on training and drafting standard operation procedures for cybercrime units in the state.