56% rise in cyber crime this year in Navi Mumbai

Navi MumbaiWith the starting of an independent Cyber Police Station on Navi Mumbai, the number of applications being converted into FIR has increased and so has the detection of the cybercrimes in Navi Mumbai

Navi Mumbai

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With the starting of an independent Cyber Police Station on Navi Mumbai, the number of applications being converted into FIR has increased and so has the detection of the cybercrimes in Navi Mumbai. In the last 11 months this year, 323 cases of cyber fraud have been registered in the jurisdiction of Navi Mumbai Police Commissionerate amounting to a total financial fraud of ₹41.40 crore, making the number of cases increase by 56% as compared to last year.

In 2022, the number of cases registered were 207 of which 54 were detected. The Navi Mumbai Cyber Police Station was started on May 11 this year and since then 36 cases have been registered only at the cyber police station. Of these 36, seven have been detected by the team. Of the 323 cases which are registered across the commissionerate, 49 have been detected by the Navi Mumbai police. The cyber cases that amount to a fraud of more than ₹1 lakh is registered with the independent cyber police station while the ones with lesser amount is registered with the local police station.

Navi Mumbai Cyber police station is equipped with one police inspector, two assistant police inspectors, three police sub inspectors and 25 staff. Meanwhile, every local police station is also equipped with a separate cyber cell which has one officer and two staff for investigation. “Nowadays, most of the financial transactions are done online. Online options are being preferred for money exchange and various types of transactions. However, cyber criminals have started monitoring these transactions. Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the fact that most of the people are not aware of how financial transactions are done online. Financial fraud is being committed on the pretext of online part time jobs, task fraud, sextortion, overdue electricity bills,” deputy commissioner of police (crime) Amit Kale said.

The major challenge faced by the police is that of the jurisdiction of the crime. Even as the person who got cheated stays in Navi Mumbai, the crime actually happens somewhere in the interiors of the country which makes it difficult for the police to trace and detect the crime. “Since we now have an independent police station, we are trying to overcome these challenges as well. The recent detection of the a part time job fraud wherein the accused was arrested from West Bengal is the prime example of it,” Kale added.

In the 36 cases registered with cyber police station, a total of ₹17 crore fraud was reported but police managed to recover ₹35 crores. “Since we freeze the entire amount that is there in the bank accounts used in the crime, the amount frozen was more than the amount cheated in our cases,” police inspector Gajanan Kadam from Cyber Police Station said.

Every time a cyber fraud happens, the police asks the complainant to report the same to National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) as well. The number of people from Navi Mumabi reporting to NCCRP portal this year is 5908 amounting to a total of ₹58.66 crore fraud of which ₹5.56 crore has been frozen by the police.