Online financial fraud cases on the rise in Puducherry

More people in Puducherry are falling into the traps laid by cyber fraudsters as data suggest a two-fold increase in online financial cheating cases during the first nine months of this year.

A whopping sum of around ₹ 30 crore was cheated from people residing in Puducherry by fraudsters till September 10 this year by offering them quick money or huge returns on fake products, investments and jobs through various social media platforms. 

As per data available with Cyber wing of the territorial police, as many as 107 cases pertaining to online financial frauds were registered in Puducherry from January to September 10, 2024. 

“Our data till September 10, this year showed that a sum of ₹ 30. 12 crore was usurped by fraudsters from people in Puducherry. In the whole of 2023, we had only registered 99 cases and the total amount lost was around ₹ 8. 93 crore. In 2022, there were only six online financial fraud cases registered here. The defrauded amount in 2022 was also about ₹ 72 lakh. This year, we have witnessed a huge spike in the number of online financial fraud cases and the amount cheated also has gone up two fold,” said a Cyber wing police officer.

Investigation into the cases registered this year, the officer said led to the recovery of around ₹ 7. 71 crore through court proceedings. Around 15 people have been arrested so far.

8 arrested on Wednesday.

In one of the recent major cyber frauds, police on Thursday arrested 8 persons for allegedly cheating a woman of ₹ 18 lakh. She was cheated by offering her a software that would assist her for automatic trading in share market.

The key accused in the case-Thufail Ahamed, Nowshath Khan and Ibrahim shah- ran a company offering trading solutions to possible customers. Thaufil and employees working in the company have been arrested. Nowshath and Ibrahim are yet to be arrested as they are based in Dubai, said Inspector of Cyber, B. C. Keerthi.

“They are involved in such crimes in several States. The complainant in Puducherry was lured by providing the software which the fraudsters claimed will help in getting huge returns through trading. The accused got her contact number and email id as she used to search on trading and she also got registered in certain websites,” said an officer involved in cracking the case.

On an average per day, the Cyber Police station receive 15 complaints related to online financial fraud. People are advised to be extremely cautious while responding to online investments, job offers and sale of products, Keerthi said.

Published - September 20, 2024 12:30 am IST