BHUBANESWAR : Nearly 60,000 people of the state fell victim to online trading fraud during the last six years, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi informed the Assembly on Monday.
As many as 769 cases had been registered during the period involving around 59,437 people, he said in a written reply to a question from Tara Prasad Bahinipati (Cong).
The chief minister said 472 such cases were reported from January 1, 2024 to November 30, 2024 in which 40,270 people were defrauded. In 2023, 190 cases of online fraud were registered in which 18,994 people were cheated.
Maximum cases of online fraud were reported in 2023 and 2024. During the four year period from 2019 to 2022, 107 online fraud cases were reported in which 173 people were cheated, he said.
Stating that steps have been taken to control online fraud, Majhi said a dedicated cyber crime unit has been functional in Bhubaneswar since September 5, 2023, under the Crime Branch. The unit specialises in investigating a wide range of cyber offences including identity theft, fake email and social media accounts, hacking, ATM and online banking fraud, credit card fraud, website defacement, cyber pornography, child pornography, phishing and cyberstalking, he said.
He said 11 new cyber crime police stations have been established and the three existing ones at Berhampur, Rourkela and Sambalpur were upgraded in 2021.
Besides, cyber crime cells are operational in the offices of all superintendents of police, he added.