More cases of identity theft in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: While the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is expressing concern over the increase in crimes related to identity theft, Hyderabad has registered a sudden surge according to data available with the police. The number of identity theft cases shot up from four in 2015 to 12 last year. Cybercrime investigation wings have categorised identity theft cases based on the intention of cyber criminals like uploading of fake profiles of women by stealing their identity, black mailing after stealing personal data, and identity theft.

Hyderabad police commissioner M. Mahender Reddy had earlier said that while the first two categories of cybercrimes were decreasing in the city due to the initiatives taken up by the department, there was a slight increase in the cases of identity theft. The city police registered 113 cases in 2014 followed by 69 in 2015 and 37 in 2017.

According to the police, there were 104 cases of uploading of fake profiles in 2014, which went down to 61 in 2015 and 25 in 2016. The cases of blackmail stayed constant at four in 2014 and 2015 and fell to zero last year. Identity theft cases went down from five in 2014 to four in 2015 but shot up to 12 last year.