Noida: Credit/debit card frauds up by 400% from 2016

Apart from an uptick in financial crime, other cases of online fraud have also shot up in Gautam Budh Nagar, the Noida police said

Financial frauds pertaining to theft of credit/debit card information have shot up by 400% in Gautam Budh Nagar in 2017 from 2016, as per the data available with the cybercrime cell.

The cyber crime cell of the Noida police put out the disturbing data. (HT FILE)

The number of credit/debit card fraud cases that were reported to Noida’s Centre for Cyber Crime Investigation (CCCI) cell increased from 139 in 2016 to 563 until September 2017. It is important to note that as many as 139 cases were reported in 12 months of 2016, while the number of cases rose to 563 in nine months of 2017.

However, the rate of solving the cases by the cyber cell has gone down dramatically, despite the multifold increase in the number of financial frauds reported in Gautam Budh Nagar.

Of the 139 complaints reported in 2016, the cybercrime investigation cell solved as many as 117 complaints — a solving rate of 84%; whereas in 2017, of the 563 complaints reported so far, the cyber cell has solved 113 cases — a solving rate of 20%.

As citizens are catching up with the latest technologies, fraudsters are also keeping pace with them, which has led to an exponential increase in the number of such incidents, Rai said.

“While the number of police officers working in the cyber cell has remained same as 2016, this cannot be a reason for the low solving rate of the complaints. The number of officers currently working with the cyber cell is good enough to handle the increased number of issues,” said a senior officer, who was the in-charge of CCCI in 2016.

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Officers said that besides the increase in the number of financial frauds, other internet related frauds and online abuses have also shot up. Overall, the CCCI has seen a 265% rise in the number of complaints over the last year, Rai said.

Officers said that timely reporting of complaints pertaining to cyber fraud is very essential. In many cases, the victim loses crucial time in reporting the case. “We have observed that in many cases, tracing an online fraud becomes increasingly difficult with the passage of time,” said Rai.

Rai said that fraudsters also have devised several methods to steal credit and debit card data to commit frauds. Cloning of cards, replacing cards at ATMs by mischief, cloning SIM cards to get OTPs are common practices these days, he said.

In a recent case, Umakant Yadav, a resident of Surajpur in Noida reported a case of credit card fraud in August, in which about Rs26,000 was used from his account without his knowledge. He immediately reported the matter to his bank and the CCCI. After an FIR was lodged into the matter by CCCI Noida, the bank credited the deducted amount to his account.