Bengalureans lost an astounding Rs 240 crore to cybercrime in just two months, with just over Rs 56 crore, or 23.6% of the total, being recovered. In general, it appears that fewer cybercrimes are being discovered each year.
It was 22.8% in 2022, fell to 8.1% in 2023, and then fell even lower to 1.36% in 2024 (January to February). In 2024, 3,151 incidents of cybercrime were reported in the first sixty days. Of them, just 11 incidents of job fraud have been found out out of 828 cases involving it. Data indicates that victims of employment fraud schemes have lost a total of more than Rs 63.8 crore.
"At least 200 mule bank accounts—which are used to send and receive money obtained unlawfully on behalf of others—are implicated in each cybercrime. In the past, fewer accounts and lesser quantities of money were used to deceive people. On the other hand, victims of the present trend are given information on at least ten bank accounts.
Then money is moved in little bursts between other accounts, and the earlier ones are quickly barred. The Special Investigating Team leading the investigation into job frauds, Shiva Prakash Devaraju, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic (South), stated that given the trend, detection may soon become extremely difficult or perhaps impossible.
"Victims of cybercrime should report cases within one hour."
The type and complexity of cybercrimes are always changing, as is the trend in this area of crime. The trend shifts and new features are added right as we're trying to solve a case," DCP Devaraju continued. According to the senior officer, masterminds behind the crimes routinely avoid capture in all of the instances that have been solved so far due to a variety of reasons, including the intricacy of tracking down IP addresses and the fact that the crimes have numerous layers. He said that although every fraudster collaborates with others, none of them are aware of one another's identities.
The fraudsters quickly shift the money across several bank accounts when it is deposited into a mule account, closing each one in the process. According to him, by the time authorities start looking for the accounts, they have either been blocked or connected to people who aren't even aware of them. The lead investigator for the FedEx courier fraud, Deputy Commissioner of Police, East Kuldeep Kumar Jain, stated that "cracking cybercrime requires continuous follow-ups with financial institutions." Strict procedures should be followed while granting loans and creating bank accounts. Victims should also report crimes within an hour of their experiences. The public and banks have an equal duty in identifying cybercrime. The police do not have the only answer to this.
