VIJAYAWADA: The City of Destiny ranked second in the list of 34 metropolitan cities in India in cybercrime, according to statistics released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for the year 2019.
As many as 400 incidents of cybercrime and cheating cases reported in 2019 from various police stations in Vizag, while Varanasi topped the list recording 448 cases and contributing 14.4 per cent and 16.1 per cent share, respectively of the total 2,783 cases reported in all the 34 cities.
Meanwhile, there is a gradual increase in cases reported in Vijayawada when compared to previous years. As many as 240 cases of computer related cheating reported in 2019 against 181 cases in 2018. The NCRB has been comparing the crime trends in 34 identified cities with a population more than one million and less than two million for the past three years to bring institutional reforms in the police department thus increasing the safety measures in the cities.
According to the bureau data, the State stood at the sixth position with overall rate of cybercrime increased by 56 per cent reporting 1,886 cases in 2019 as against 1,207 in 2018. The NCRB data revealed that most of the incidents reported in the city are frauds such as online banking cheating, OTP frauds, lottery, extortion and blackmailing.
Good trend is that incidents of blackmailing, posting obscene photos and videos have reduced when compared to the previous year. Also, data explained that accused in most of the e-mail and Facebook abuse cases were reportedly friends of the complainants (mostly women) and they committed the crimes to take revenge on them for refusing marriage proposals or sexual favours.
“Most of the offenders are educated above Intermediate. Cases of political abuse on social media platforms increased during the general elections. In order to prevent becoming victims of cybercrime, we are creating awareness programs for youngsters and women especially,” said a senior cybercrime department official.
240 cases in V’wada in 2019
There is a gradual increase in cases reported in Vijayawada when compared to previous years. As many as 240 cases of cyber crimes were reported in 2019 against 181 cases in 2018. The NCRB has been comparing the crime trends in 34 identified cities with population more than one million.