Bhubaneswar: The Odisha capital recorded 50.31 per cent cyber crimes in 2024, with police receiving 7,263 complaints, involving fraud of over Rs 82.53 crore.
The city had reported 3,614 cyber crime complaints with fraud amounting to Rs 13.99 crore in 2022 and the number climbed to 4,832, involving Rs 42.61 crore fraud, in 2023.
According to information shared by the Commissionerate Police on Wednesday, 2,653 of the total cases reported last year pertained to financial frauds, UPI (1,872), credit/debit cards (781), social media (1,076) and other fraud calls (881).
Cyber Crime and Economic Offence police station in Bhubaneswar registered 322 FIRs last year. While 38 cyber criminals, including 20 from outside the state, were arrested, cops managed to freeze Rs 23.60 crore but could refund only Rs 2.50 crore to the victims.
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Teams were sent to West Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, New Delhi, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
The cyber crooks duped people through impersonation, investment, job, UPI and credit/debit card frauds as well as digital arrests mostly via SMSes, emails, WhatsApp calls, Telegram and other social media platforms.
The Commissionerate police further mentioned about solving numerous high-profile cases last year, including digital arrest scams, social media harassment and blackmail cases, financial investment frauds and call centre cases.
