MBVV cybercrime unit recovers ₹8.37 crore lost by victims to cyber frauds

A 19-year-old from Mira Road, Mumbai, was scammed out of ₹10,000 when he responded to a work-from-home ad on Facebook. The police returned the full amount in five days. The Mira Bhayandar – Vasai Virar (MBVV) police unit saved ₹8.37 crore and returned ₹2.01 crore to 179 victims in 2023. The unit registered 3,157 fraud cases in 2023, up from 2,154 in 2022. In Maharashtra, 9,600 cyber complaints were filed in 2023, double the number in 2022. The frauds involved SIM card swaps, KYC updating, fake customer care numbers, task frauds, and investment schemes.

MUMBAI: A 19-year-old Mira Road resident, last year came across an advertisement on Facebook about a work from home opportunity. The offer promised payment for completing simple tasks, making it an appealing prospect for the college student who sought to earn some extra cash for a new mobile phone. He accordingly contacted the number given in the advertisement and started working part-time. After completing the third round of tasks, his reporting manager asked him to deposit ₹10,000 if he wanted to make more money. “I had collected ₹20,000 for my phone and assuming that I could get more money I followed the instructions on the app and clicked on the link and within seconds the entire amount got debited from my bank account and I realised that I was cheated,” said the complainant.

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“I had attended a cyber safety awareness program conducted by the police in my college and knew the importance of the golden hour, I immediately called my bank and informed them about the fraud,” added the complainant. The bank and the police investigated the case and returned his entire amount in five days of the fraud.

The 19-year-old is not the only lucky victim of Cyberfrauds. The Cybercrime unit of the Mira Bhayandar – Vasai Virar (MBVV) police last year saved money lost by several cybercrime victims and successfully blocked in bank accounts of frauds an amount of ₹8.37 crore. Last year, the police returned an amount of ₹2.01 crore (out of the blocked amounts) to 179 victims, as against ₹91.94 lakh in 2022. The remaining blocked amount of ₹6.36 crore is lying in frozen accounts and will be soon brought back and returned to the victims concerned.

The MBVV cybercrime unit in 2023 registered 3,157 frauds, as against 2,154 cases in 2022. In 2021, when the MBVV commissionerate was established, the number of cybercrimes registered was just 764. In Maharashtra the number of cyber complaints filed through the helpline 1930 and through individual complaints lodged at police stations was 9,600 in 2023 compared to 4,800 in 2022.

Cyber police officers said that the maximum cases they had received last year involved known modus operandi like SIM card swap, getting bank account details in the name of KYC (Know Your Customer) updating or en-cashing reward points, faking customer care numbers on Google search engine, task frauds, inviting investment in the name of forex trading, selling old furniture etc. Besides victims are also lured by frauds with gift cards, lottery, discounts, and other methods such as sending QR code for payments, fraud loan apps where they gain access to the contacts of the victims, gallery and location.

“Immediately after receiving money from victims, cyber frauds transfer the amounts to various other bank accounts, e-wallets and the money eventually is either withdrawn through ATMs at far off places or utilised for online shopping, and immediate action is necessary to stop the multiple transfers and withdrawal of the money or its utilisation, and block it in some bank account. The money can then be brought back and returned to whom it legitimately belongs,” said a Cyberpolice officer. “This is possible only if the matter is reported to us at the earliest, possibly within an hour (Golden hour) of the fraud,” he added.