Image for representational purpose for cyber crimes. (File Photo)
Chennai

Rs 1.7K crore lost to cyber crimes in Tamil Nadu last year

The investigation by Tamil Nadu’s cyber crime wing had resulted in the arrest of 861 accused with 35 of them being detained under the Goondas Act.

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s residents lost Rs 1,673.85 crore in 2024, of which Rs 771.98 crore (46%) was frozen and around Rs 83.84 crore (5 %) was returned to the victims, official statistics released by the state cyber crime wing on Wednesday said.

Data shows that 1.3 lakh complaints were registered on the National Cyber Crime Registration Portal (NCCRP) in 2024 in Tamil Nadu, which resulted in filing of 4,380 FIRs and 61,267 CSRs.

DGP Shankar Jiwal said the state stands first in acknowledging complaints (filing of CSR) and third in registration of FIRs as per data of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), established by the Union Home Ministry.

On an average, 750 calls were being received daily on the 1930 cyber helpline and 450 cases being reported on NCCRP everyday, the official data states. The helpline received 2.7 lakh calls in 2024, the data stated.

The investigation by Tamil Nadu’s cyber crime wing had resulted in the arrest of 861 accused with 35 of them being detained under the Goondas Act.

The state police has a dedicated cyber patrolling team to proactively monitor and counter fraudulent activities in the cyberspace. This has resulted in the removal of 15 fake websites and blocking of 121 Whatsapp accounts of group admins promoting investment scams.

The wing has also blocked 79,748 IMEIs, traced 48,031 mobile phones and recovered 16,317 phones through the CEIR portal. 20,453 SIMs/Mobile numbers were blocked last year. Five gambling websites were also removed based on the request by the TN Online Gaming Authority.

These details were revealed during the prize distribution ceremony of a cyber hackathon conducted for college students, at the DGP’s office.

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