BHOPAL: Money lost due to digital arrest -- the rising phenomenon of cyber fraudsters posing as enforcement agencies’ sleuths to extort money from targets -- has increased by more than 130 per cent within a year in Madhya Pradesh.
The alarming statistics were shared by the state government on the second day of the ongoing winter session of the Vidhan Sabha in Bhopal on Tuesday.
Responding to Congress MLA Pratap Grewal’s question about the cases of digital arrest and online fraud in the state during the years 2023 and 2024, the CM and home minister Dr Mohan Yadav, in the written reply submitted that a total 26 cases of digital arrest were reported in the state in 2024 in which the cyber fraudsters extorted more than Rs 12.60 crore, which was 130 per cent more than a single case in entire 2023 which saw the lone complaint lose Rs 96,968 in Bhopal.
While just one case was reported (in Bhopal) during 2023, no arrests were made in that case in 2023. In 2024, as many as 26 cases (registered under the IT Act) of digital arrest have so far been reported during 2024, which involved more than Rs 12.60 crore extortion from the victims in Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Vidisha.
As many 38 accused have so far been arrested in the 26 cases of digital arrest in 2024 and just 72.38 lakh (which is a mere 5.74%) of the whopping Rs 12.60 crore plus sum (extorted by the fraudsters) has been returned to the victims.
The CM’s written reply revealed that among the 38 accused arrested in the 26 cases of digital arrest in 2024, most hailed from Rajasthan, followed by Bihar, Gujarat, Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir.
According to informed sources, the arrested men could actually be those whose accounts (mule accounts) have been used to park the money extorted from the victims.
In his written reply, the CM told the house that cyber fraudsters duped people in Madhya Pradesh of more than Rs 150 crore in 2023 and 2024, nine per cent of more than 12.61 crore of which pertained to digital arrest extortion money.
The remaining 137 crore plus represented the sum lost by the state’s people to various online frauds. A total of 444 cases of online fraud were reported in the state in 2023 in which the victims lost more than Rs 44.26 crore. Out of this sum, more than Rs 8.71 crore (which was around 20% of the money lost) was recovered by the MP police and returned to the victims of online fraud in 2023.
In the current year, while the cases of online fraud registered under the IT Act increased to 521 (which was 17% more than the 444 cases reported in 2023), the money lost by the victims to online fraud zoomed by a massive 111% to Rs 93.60 crore compared to the Rs 44.26 crore plus lost in 2023.
While the total sum lost due to online fraud was 111% more in 2024 compared to 2023, the recovery of fraud money and its return to the victims in 2024 was Rs 8.54 crore plus, which was just 9% of the money lost due to online fraud in 2024.
The recovery of online fraud money by the state police and its return to the victims in 2024 stood at Rs 8.54 lakh-plus, which was Rs 17.12 lakh or 2% less than the corresponding figure of 2023.
Also, while 237 accused of online fraud were arrested in 2023, the corresponding number fell slightly to 234 in 2024.
A city/district-wise break-up of the online fraud and digital arrest cases in 2023 and 2024 revealed that maximum of 184 and 141 cases were reported in the state’s money/commercial capital Indore in 2023 and 2024 respectively, followed by the state’s political and administrative capital Bhopal with 53 and 77 cases respectively.
