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Tech threat: U.P. records 2nd-most cybercrimes in country, internet users of all age groups at risk
This is despite the Uttar Pradesh Police investing significantly in developing cyber cells across districts. U.P. is second only to Karnataka in the entire country in the number of cybercrime cases recorded.
LUCKNOW: Not only our social interactions and daily transactions but criminal activities have also shifted online as a result of greater internet penetration. In Uttar Pradesh, online crimes have risen by a meteoric 63% since 2019. This is despite the Uttar Pradesh Police investing significantly in developing cyber cells across districts. U.P. is second only to Karnataka in the entire country in the number of cybercrime cases recorded, said Triveni Singh, SP, cybercrime cell, U.P. Police.
“Incidents of online fraud, sexual harassment, and other cyber crimes have become more frequent in the state. Most rampant online frauds these days involve con calls promising part-time jobs or instant loans. Also, criminals have found ways to create fake legal documents, issuing summons and posing as fake police officials. They intimidate victims by imposing deadlines for making payments,” added SP Singh.
Recently, an elderly woman in Noida lost ₹12 lakh after men posing as officials from the electricity department asked her to pay the electricity bill online or face a power cut. In her ignorance, she clicked on the link sent by the fraudsters and lost her savings. The victim, Asha Pratap, is yet to recover her money.
In a similar incident, Renu Chaudhary of Lucknow lost ₹1.5 Lakh after clicking on a link that was sent to her along with a fake KYC update message. “Confusing it for a legitimate SBI alert, I followed the steps detailed in the message and even entered my OTP. Within seconds, I received another message stating that my money had been debited. Soon after, I received yet another notification, this time from Flipkart, showing the purchase of an iPhone worth ₹1.5 lakh. I immediately filed a complaint with the cybercrime unit. Thankfully, I received my money back within a week,” said Chaudhary.
In another worrying trend, cases of sextortion and sexual harassment have also become more frequent than ever. “Several cyber criminals from Mathura, Bharatpur, and Mewat have been found to create fake online profiles to target vulnerable girls, mostly adolescents. These men befriend girls, extract their details, take screenshots of chat or while on a video call and then use intimate pictures or details to blackmail them into paying money. People have lost crores of rupees to these cyber criminals in trying to save face in front of their families and friends,” added SP Singh.
Meanwhile, people are also being duped of money through online job rackets. “Since fake websites subscribe to paid advertisements, they pop up first on the search engine when an individual looks up for part-time or full-time gigs. Many-a-time, people fall prey to these fake advertisements as scamsters who run these websites pose as representatives from famous multinational companies, and list their own mobile numbers for reference,” said Singh.
According to the findings of the cyber cell unit, many of the supposed customer care numbers that surface on Google searches belong to imposters. “The criminals diligently do their research to appear legitimate while conversing with their targets. People or organisations running fake sites often outsource the technical work to subject experts,” added Singh.
High pendency rate, low convictions encouraging online thugs?
Even as online crimes are on a rise in Uttar Pradesh, the rate at which these cases are being disposed of is far from satisfactory. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the pendency rate of cybercrimes in the state is as high as 38.1%.
In 2021, a total of 8,829 incidents of cybercrimes were reported in U.P. while the state had 6,833 pending cases. To make matters worse, convictions are rare in cases where the action is taken against online criminals.
According to NCRB data, 451 cases of online crimes were reported in Ghaziabad in 2021. However, arrests were made only in 75 of the total cases. Even in these 75 cases where police managed to make arrests, no convictions were made.
The state capital witnessed a similar legal apathy. In Lucknow, 1,067 cases of online crimes were reported in 2021 and 1,262 consequent arrests were made. Yet not even a single accused was convicted.
In comparison, Kanpur fared somewhat better. The district recorded 449 cybercrime cases and 502 related arrests. Of these, 62 accused were convicted of their crime.
