New Delhi: A whopping amount of Rs 615 crore has been lost by the people of Mumbai to cyber fraud in the past ten years, indicating the RTI obtained the data from Mumbai police.
The huge chunk of money was wiped off between 2013 and June 30, 2023, from which a major cashflow of Rs 264 crore was during the pandemic years between the years 2019 and 2021, as per the data records taken from the Mumbai police under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The pandemic saw a sharp hike in internet usage and quite an increase in cyber frauds, stated experts.
Only about Rs 41.8 lakh out of the Rs 264 crore has been recovered. Moreover, the authorities have retrieved Rs 12.7 crore out of the Rs 615 crore lost in the last 10 years, data obtained in response to RTI.
On the brighter side, the data showed a substantial hike in the recovery amount since 2021 to more than Rs 5 crore so far.
The cyber fraud between the years 2013 and 2020, ranged was Rs 1 lakh to Rs 20 lakh yearly. Till June 30, 2023, Rs 89 lakh has been restored. The cyber experts said that these 19,000 plus FIRs are very low in numbers and in fact, many frauds are not reported and often it’s the authorities that do not pay attention to cases involving small amounts.
Be updated on the modern cyberfraud tricks
As we live in a modern society having access to almost top-notch technology and inventions. However, it is often noticed that with modernity comes loophole. Experts have to say that during the pandemic, jobs, customs, gifts, KYC, loan and crypto, scams, phishing attacks and sextortion increased.
“Covid spelt disaster for the gullible and the careless who surfed the internet and acted on instructions of cyber fraudsters,” stated one such expert.
Another cyber expert Ritesh Bhatia said, “A low recovery rate could be due to the complexity of tracing funds in the digital world, lack of support from internet intermediaries such as banks and payment gateways, the international nature of cybercrime, and difficulties in identifying perpetrators.”
How can you avoid Cyber fraud
1. Installing antivirus software and anti-malware protection on your computers.
2. Use strong passwords
3. Make it a habit to routinely update your devices
4. Strengthen your home network
(Written by- Mahek Nigam)
