Cyberabad sees Rs 793 crores lost to online fraud in 2024; spike in part-time job scams, digital arrests

Hyderabad: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Cyberabad, has worked on 94 cases and arrested 203 persons in 2024. The total amount related to cybercrimes that was frozen in accounts was Rs 30,77,48,454 and the total property attached was Rs 5,29,58,528, according to the annual police report of the Cyberabad police released here on Tuesday.

Cyberabad EOW progress

Cyberabad EOW’s DCP K Prasad said that the EOW police station was first-of-its-kind established in Telangana in March and the first case was registered on March 12.

The wing also dealt with cases curtailing economic offences such as pre-launch, real estate, financial and land scam issues on priority during 2024, he said and added that the wing had deployed enough personnel for quick disposal of the cases.

Important cases registered by the EOW Police Station

- Fake e-passbook case where Rs 400 crores worth of government property was protected by the wing. The accused sold flats and collected 25 per cent initial payments and issued MoUs and receipts. They also made false promises to lure customers into investing in the project involving Rs 60 crore from 395 victims.

Cases regarding fake documents of government land: 10 accused persons were arrested and Rs 200 crore worth of government property was protected. In another case, six accused persons were arrested and Rs 600 crore worth of government property was protected.

The accused collected crores of rupees from the victims in the name of schemes such as the Buy Back Open Plots Scheme, Double Gold Scheme, Gold Chits Scheme and Diwali Gold Scheme involving an amount of Rs 300 crore from 360 victims.

Crime rate shoots by 64% in 2024

Addressing the customary annual press conference, Cyberabad police commissioner Avinash Mohanty said that the total reported crimes in Cyberabad Police Commissionerate in 2024 are 37,689, which is high compared to crimes recorded in 2023 i.e. 22,859.

In 2024, Cyberabad's crime rate increased by an unusual 64 per cent and the cyber crime accounted to 23 percent of total crime in Cyberabad.

Cybercrimes in Cyberabad

According to Cyberabad Commissioner of Police Avinash Mohanty, the police implemented a "free registration of FIR approach and hence an increase in the number of cases."

The Cyberabad Commissionerate saw a 122 per cent increase in cybercrimes this year, with victims losing an astounding Rs 793 crore to cybercriminals.

"Cyber fraud victims filed 30,883 petitions with the Cyberabad police, and 11,914 cases were filed overall. We were able to halt payments in almost half of the situation. We will streamline the process for refunding the amount and handing it over to the victims after due process," the CP said.

Of the total of 11,914 cases of cybercrime reported, the financial losses amounted to Rs 793.18 crore. The total amount seized is Rs 1,41,31,042 and the total POH (Payments on Hold) is Rs 71,28,56,728. The total amount refunded to the victims is Rs 70,46,11,458.

Part-time job fraud was the most significant category of cybercrime, with as many as 3,267 cases leading to losses of Rs 173.66 crore. Trading fraud followed closely behind with as many as 1,686 cases, resulting in losses amounting to Rs 338.45 crore.

Apart from that, as many as 1,276 cases were registered under smishing fraud, resulting in losses amounting to Rs 18.78 crore. Through their enforcement and recovery efforts, the Cyberabad Police recovered Rs 19.97 crore from the scams and refunded the victims.

The Cyberabad cybercrimes police arrested 534 persons from across the country in 372 cases during the year, he added.

The cybercrime police station is enlisting volunteers to carry out a massive awareness campaign, said DCP Cybercrime Sree Bala. "We reached approximately 10 lakh people through a direct campaign in a recent program, and an additional 85 million people were reached through online channels, including social media platforms," she said.

Some of the major accomplishments of cybercrime PS, Cyberabad, are as follows:

- A victim lost Rs 1,33,46,500 in an investment fraud from which Rs 96,00,000 was refunded to the victim.

- A person was arrested from Ernakulam in Kerala for digital arrest fraud. The officials refunded Rs 61,76,157 to the victim and seized incriminating material from the possession of the accused person.

- A victim lost Rs 60,00,000 in digital arrest fraud and the total amount was recovered and given to the victim.

- A victim lost Rs 72,57,874 in an investment fraud from which Rs 56,00,000 was recovered.

- A victim lost Rs 1,23,28,373 in investment fraud from which Rs 42,00,000 was refunded.

- A victim lost Rs 18,26,194 in digital arrest fraud and the total amount was recovered.

Cryptocurrency fraud

CCPS has made a significant impact in the battle against cryptocurrency fraud, analysing 34 cases with a total loss of 11.3 crore (13.44 million USDT). Breaking through multiple chains of private wallets, identified 51 out of 89 involved wallets and secured debit freezes on major exchanges like OKX and Binance. The Cyberabad Police initiated the recovery process, with Rs 9.3 lakh (11,089.55 USDT) in one case and Rs 1.65 lakh (1,969.22 USDT) in another.

Digital arrest

The Commissionerate has registered as many as 1,002 cases in 2024 as against 102 reported in 2023. The victims lost Rs 80,57,06,754 and the POH amount is Rs 11,02,88,944 and Rs 5,70,13,341 was refunded to the victims.

Road accidents comparison

Even though the overall number of traffic accident deaths in Cyberabad decreased, with 842 fatalities in 2024 compared to 866 the year before, the number of accidents on the Outer Ring traffic (ORR) has sharply increased.

On the ORR, there were 178 accidents reported this year compared to 91 last year. Of the 178 accidents that were reported, 43 were fatal, while the rest are non-fatal.

The traffic police have always placed a high focus on road safety on the ORR, and many initiatives have been put in place to make driving safer. The drivers' reckless and careless driving is blamed by the traffic authorities for the collisions.

Cyberabad recorded 3,892 road accidents in 2024 as opposed to 3,036 last year. Despite enhanced safety measures, the Commissionerate saw over 261 pedestrian deaths in 805 fatal accidents in 2024. The fatal accident victims include 10 cyclists, 465 motorcyclists, 27 auto/auto trolleys, 53 LMV users and 26 other heavy vehicle users.

A total of 382 accidents were reported in the Cyberabad Commissionerate during 2024 as against 328 in 2023. Of the total, 255 were fatal and 156 were non-fatal.

E-Challans

The Commissionerate registered 6,85,545 spot challans in 2024 as against 6,01,396 in 2023. The e-challans registered in 2024 are 15,74,997 as against 20,41,388 in 2023. The total penalty imposed on the violators is Rs 111,81,71,245 in 2024 as against Rs 104,27,69,370 in 2023.

Drugs seized

As many as 421 cases of NDPS Act were registered in 2024 as against 278 in 2023. The total number of accused arrested in the cases is 954. A total of 2,714.772 kgs of Ganja, Cocaine, Alprazolam, Heroin, Opium, Synthetic Drugs and others worth Rs 24,92,42,600 was seized by the officials in 2024.

Drug disposals in 2024

A total of 275 cases related to the sale and consumption of drugs were disposed of in 2024 and the total value is Rs 19,08,46,770.

Total quantity of drug disposal

1) 7,291 Kgs of Ganja

2) 45.769 Kgs of Ganja Chocolates,

3) 10.945 ltrs of Hashish Oil

4) 177.254 Grams of MDMA

5) 118.01 Grams of Cocaine

6) 10.010 Kgs of Alprozolam

7) 52 Papers and 27.361 Kgs of other drugs