TIRUPATI: Ramesh (name changed), who works for a private company, recently transferred Rs 4,000 to his 60-year-old father in Tirupati through a payments app. As the amount did not credit to his father’s bank account, Ramesh looked up online the company’s customer support’s contact address, and provided the same to his father.
As the sexagenarian called the number, a cyber-fraudster posing as a customer support executive was able to gain his debit card details. Not long after, Ramesh’s father realised that Rs 20,000 was missing from his bank account.
With more and more people gaining access to the internet, cybercrimes are simultaneously on the rise. At least 36 people fell prey to such fraudsters in Tirupati in September alone, according to police data.As many as 133 cybercrime cases were registered in the first nine months of this year as against 133 in the entire 2020.
In another instance, a woman lost Rs 1,11,356 in online betting. After learning the nuances of online betting from her husband, she recharged the amount in a betting platform in various transactions. However, she soon found out that she had lost all her money and approached the police.
During investigation, the cybercrime police freezed 75 suspected accounts with a total closing balance of Rs 3.06 crores. A majority of such criminal activity reported are related to identity thefts and individual offences.
Cybercrime inspector Subramanyam Reddy told TNIE: “Cyber-fraudsters have now expanded their hideouts making it difficult for the police to trace them and prevent the crimes. Previously, these criminals used to operate from isolated places in Uttarakhand, Bihar, Rajasthan and NCR region. Now they have expanded their wings to southern India and are operating from remote locations.”