Cybercrime cases triple in Bengaluru in six years, card payments/online transfer top charts of fraud

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Bengaluru have more than tripled between 2017 and 2022, and the number of cases this calendar year may beat all previous records going by the trends in the first five months, according to the data placed by the Karnataka government before the Legislative Assembly. The city, which is home to several global technology firms and thousands of startups with an estimated 2.3 million tech workers, reported 9940 cybercrime cases in 2022, recording a big jump from 2742 in 2017. In the five months of this calendar year, the city has already reported 6226 cases, Home Minister G Parameshwara has said in response to a query from S Suresh Kumar (BJP).

At the current pace of growth, Bengaluru may end up with about 12,000 cases or more. Except in 2021, when the cases dipped to 6422, they have always been climbing with 5252 (2018), 10,553 (2019) and 8892 (2020). Out of these cases, the cybercrime wing of the Bengaluru City Police detected 895 (2017), 1393 (2018),2602 (2019), 3308 (2020), 2014 (2021), 1536 (2022) and 16 cases, as of May end, this year.

The data reveals a poor rate of conviction with just two in 2017, seven each in 2018 and 2019, two in 2020, three in 2021 and five last year. No one so far this year. Debit/credit card and online money transfer frauds have always topped cybercrime cases, according to the data.

There were 4252 of such cases last calendar year, making up almost half of total cybercrime cases reported last year. There have also been a significant number of card skimming and job fraud cases. The cybercrime police have also recorded other fraud cases around matrimony, business opportunity (herbal seeds, data theft), advance fee scams (gifts, iPhone, OLX, loan), lottery, SIM cloning, social media cases,