Faridabad sees sharp rise in number of cybercrimes

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Faridabad, January 22

As many as 920 complaints of cybercrime, including cases of alleged cheating and online frauds, have been received in the district in the past three weeks, taking the daily average to 43.

Rs 5.38 cr recovered last year

• While a total of 532 complaints were received at the three cyber police stations at Central, NIT and Ballabhgarh in December last year
• The police arrested 423 persons in 183 cases in the past 12 months
• An amount of Rs 5.38 crore in cyber frauds was recovered in 2023
• The number of complaints lodged in January this year has already reached 920

Sube Singh, spokesperson, Police Department, said the total number of cybercrime complaints registered in the district have registered a sharp increase.

While a total of 532 complaints were received at the three cyber police stations at Central, NIT and Ballabhgarh in December last year, the number of complaints lodged in January this year has already reached 920 in the first three weeks.

He said the police arrested 423 persons in 183 cases in the past 12 months. Besides, the police recovered an amount of Rs 5.38 crore in cyber frauds in 2023.

In a recent incident, an elderly couple was cheated of Rs 46 lakh in the second week of December last year. The couple remained digitally arrested for three days. Digital arrest refers to a situation when a person is not allowed to log out from an online application

The accused contacted the victims through a WhatsApp call and claimed that their son, who was living abroad, had been arrested in the US. The accused told the victims that they needed to transfer money for his safe release.

The accused threatened them of dire consequences, including harming their son, if they disconnected the call or told anyone about it. The victim couple finally lodged a complaint after they contacted their son.

In another case, the police recovered an amount of Rs 28.25 lakh from four accused, who had duped a resident of Sector 10 here of Rs 20.3 lakh on the pretext of completing tasks.

ACP (Cyber Crime) Abhimanyu Goyat said swift action in such cases had helped the police in blocking the transfer of Rs 2.71 crore into the accounts of criminals in the past one year.

He said the police in the district had arrested 423 criminals, who were allegedly involved in 31,248 cases, last year. He said that the Cyber Cell has also been making efforts to create awareness among the common public about the growing menace of cheating and online frauds.

The cybercrime branch of the department has a staff of 118 personnel, including 55 investigating officials, in the district.