Bhubaneswar: The State police have grossly failed in tackling cyber crime in Odisha and have put in little effort in this regard. As a result, cyber criminals have become active and duped lakhs of rupees in the State.
This was revealed Friday in a report card of the Cyber Help Desk of the Commissionerate Police in Bhubaneswar.
Cyber criminals have been taking advantage of the lack of use of technology in investigation and lack of awareness among people.
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In the absence of noticeable steps to curb the illegal activity, cyber criminals have duped Rs 2,04,78,000 in the last two months.
According to the report card, Rs 1,20,00,000 were duped in the month of February and Rs 84,78,000 in March this year. Similarly, the help desk had received 1,413 phone calls during the same period.
The desk had received 784 phone calls in February and 629 in March. More precisely, there were 632 phone calls from Bhubaneswar including areas in its close vicinity and 781 calls from other parts of the State. Police have registered 29 cases in this connection and none of the accused has been arrested so far.
Notably, cyber fraudsters have duped the maximum through UPI identification during the corresponding period. The total number of cyber crimes includes 295 fraud cases which occurred across the state pertaining to UPI identification; 115 cases occurred relating to debit and credit cards; and the remaining 544 to different lottery schemes, TV and mobile recharge plans, Aadhaar Card update, etc.
However, the help desk has succeeded in bringing back Rs 9,39,494 from the fraudsters during the intervening period. The month of February had recorded a maximum of Rs 6,85,847, followed by Rs 2,53,647 in March and the recovered amounts have been returned to the respective victims, the help desk report card stated.
PNN