Hyderabad: Cybercrooks steal Rs 7 cr in 2 months

Cyber fraudsters steal a whopping Rs 7 crore in just two months from gullible victims in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: In just two months, a whopping Rs 7 crore have been siphoned off from gullible victims by the cyber fraudsters and 388 cases registered in the Cyberabad Police Commissinerate.

Incidentally, among the cases booked by police in the last two months, the highest number of the victims were found to be private employees followed by software professionals. And location-wise, the majority of the complainants were from Madhapur and Kukatpally.

---

According to the data available for the last two months, the modus operandi of investment frauds topped the list with 181 cases with the amount duped being Rs 6.60 crore followed by 94 cases of customer care fraud involving an amount of Rs 3.70 crore and Rs 95 lakh lost to cheaters in advertisement frauds.

The common reasons behind victims falling prey to these frauds, the police point out, were the temptation of easy money, peer pressure, and fast growth of investments.

“Usually, students, private employees, IT employees, and homemakers tend to fall for these unsuspecting frauds while looking for an alternate source of income. Given their high exposure to such apps and websites, they are the most vulnerable. It takes quite some time for them to realise they were cheated,” said Ritiraj, Cybercrime DCP, Cyberabad.

The number of victims in the age group of 21 years to 30 years was more followed by those in the age group of 31 years to 40 years. The second group mostly comprised homemakers, the DCP said. Meanwhile, elderly persons and children too were found to be increasingly trapped by cyber fraudsters. “It is observed that elders were falling prey to ‘smishing’ while children are lured with gaming apps, etc,” Ritiraj said.