VIJAYAWADA: Police commissioner Gautam Sawang said there has been a steady increase in incidents of cyber crimes and, to deal with them effectively, a cyber crime police station will be set up soon in Vijayawada. In 2017, as many as 185 cyber crime cases were registered as against 87 in 2016 and 49 in 2015. Of the total cases registered in 2017, 120 were related to online banking frauds and police recovered Rs 27.84 lakhs by cracking 46 cases. Mostly cyber crimes involved criminals resorting to online bank frauds by stealing One Time Password (OTP), source code thefts, cheating of jobless youth, marriage, lottery, dealership frauds, abusive messages on Facebook and through mobile SMSs.
During a press conference here on Friday, Gautam Sawang released annual crime statistics. Sawang observed that cyber crimes became a challenge to the police department compared to the past. He attributed the spike in such cases to the wide usage of internet and non-cash transactions post demonetization. The online bank frauds went up significantly during 2017 with 120 cases as against 52 in 2016. Police restored `27,83,649 to the victims as against `63,09,985 stolen by fraudsters. “With more cyber crimes being reported these days, we thought of setting up a dedicated police station in Vijayawada to deal with cyber crimes,” said Sawang.
