CHENNAI: At a time when ‘digital arrest’ and ‘online trading app’ scams have become commonplace, official data of state police shows the number of registered cybercrime cases has jumped by two-and-a-half times in the last two years. In 2022, the state police registered 2,082 cybercrime cases, which jumped to 4,121 the next year and 5,385 in 2024.
Despite this spike, an official statement of the Tamil Nadu police said only 3% of complaints that they get is converted into an FIR, while CSRs are filed in 50% of the cases.
To put the data in perspective, across India, Tamil Nadu ranks first in filing of CSRs and third in registration of FIRs in such cyber crime cases, the statement said. The statement, however, did not say where Tamil Nadu stands in terms of the total number of complaints reported.
The reason for this is two-pronged; firstly, a Madras High Court order enables courts to freeze accounts and return a portion of the scammed money to victims without filing of FIR. Just a complaint on the official National Cyber Report Portal (NCRP) is enough. Secondly, the police said they file FIRs only in cases where the amount involved is huge or there is evidence of an organised network at play.
For instance, a case by Avadi police found evidence of 13 bank accounts of an accused used in 135 similar ‘digital arrest’ and ‘online trading’ scams.
The primary focus thus is to ensure that victims report it quickly to help recover at least a portion of the scammed money, say officials. Complainants in Tamil Nadu have lost `1673.85 crore in cybercrimes in 2024, of which only 5% was returned to the victims.
Investigators cite the increased number of devices, faster internet and higher volume of online transactions as reasons for the spike in cybercrimes and hence cases. Growth in the number of cyber scam compounds in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar has also contributed to the increase in number of cases, an official said.
Tamil Nadu’s cybercrime officials have broken new ground with investigations leading to the arrests of accused from different states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, and even detection of a kingpin in Bangladesh.
However, investigation in such cases is challenging as police must trace and track hundreds of bank accounts used to launder the scammed money and travel for multiple days to track and arrest the accused. “Just tracking one case takes 10-15 days and puts a brake on other daily work,” a cybercrime investigator said.
“Data analytics, hotspot analysis technology and predictive policing to identify patterns have been used to allocate resources more efficiently to prevent crime. Cyber patrolling helped in identifying a fake website of the National Cyber Crime Record Portal (NCCRP),” a senior official said.