Hyderabad: Call spoofing scams remained the most reported offence with Rachakonda cyber crime last year, where fraudsters call people, introduce themselves as bank officials, collect their debit or credit card details and transfer the money into their e-wallets opened by submitting fabricated documents. Most victims, even the educated lot, fall prey to Nigerian fraudsters who in the name of lottery frauds, matrimonial frauds, jobs frauds, are cheating people, according to Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat.
The cyber crime police station, Rachakonda, has seen a slight increase of reporting of cyber crimes during 2018, said Mr Bhagwat.
He said the cyber crime police had cracked critical cases where 10 Nigerian nationals were arrested from New Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai and sent to prison.
“All of them were involved in matrimonial, job and lottery fraud. Expensive cars and jewellery were recovered from them,” Mr Bhagwat said. In order to prevent cyber crimes, aggressive campaigns were conducted to create awareness among students and employees and the general public.
The Rachakonda cyber cell has initiated social awareness programmes pertaining to cyber offenses under the guidance of Mr Bhagwat with the support of ‘End Now’ Foundation run by Mr Anil Rachamalla on March 23. It conducted an awareness session at Guru Nanak Institute of Engineering Technology (GNIT), Ibrahimpatnam, which was attended by more than 500 students.
“With the increase in technology has come a spurt in cyber crimes throughout the country where fraudsters use hi-tech methods to cheat victims. The victims are sometimes called over phone by fraudsters pretending to be bank officials and they innocently divulge critical information including CVV numbers, OTP, etc, of their credit or debit cards. This information is used to make fraudulent transactions,” Mr Bhagwat said.
“It is high time that we get trained in dealing with such banking frauds which are of top priority now,” said an official from cyber crimes police.
