CHENNAI: Chennai has recorded a 1,648 per cent rise in cybercrime complaints over the past 10 years, according to a Home Department policy note tabled by Chief Minister MK Stalin in the Assembly on Monday.
The note said the number has jumped from 748 complaints in 2011 to 13,077 in 2021. The rise may be attributed to digitisation, internet penetration, and widespread use of mobile phones.
"It is natural that when volume of electronic transactions increases, related offences too will increase. Cheques and demand drafts dominated banking systems years ago, but now less than 10 per cent transactions happen through cheques," said V Rajendran, chairman, Digital Security Association of India and a Cyber Crimes Advocate.
A senior police officer, who was part of a cyber crime team, said it is almost impossible to get back the money once an investigation crosses the golden hour, first 24 hours, in online crimes.
The policy note said cybercrime teams were formed in all 11 police districts of Greater Chennai Police, in addition to five cybercrime police stations, with support from the Central Crime Branch at an outlay of Rs 85.69 lakh.
When asked about prevention measures, Rajendran said, "In other crimes, police can track, record, and thwart attempts to commit crime. But in cybercrimes, the power to prevent them lies only with the people."
The man, who has trained thousands of police personnel since 2009, said the possibility of cracking these crimes has improved. "Young people with degrees in engineering are entering the police department. Their passion and knowledge will help solve these cases," said Rajendran.
To investigate on scientific lines, a cyber forensic lab has been set up with high-end forensic workstation, disc forensic, mobile forensic and social media tools at a cost of Rs 6.90 crore under the safe city project.
The policy note said that through seamless efforts of cybercrime squad, Rs 6.75 crore has been retrieved over the last few months.The State Cyber Crime Wing Headquarters has blocked 531 websites, 23 YouTube videos, 59 Facebook pages/profiles, 17 instagram profiles and 32 Google play sites that are fake/fraudulent in nature.