Bhubaneswar Denizens Lost Rs 79 Lakh To Cyber Frauds In August

Bhubaneswar: Amid a spurt in online frauds in Odisha, cybercriminals have reportedly swindled more than Rs 79 lakh from many people in Odisha capital last month.

A total of 344 fraud calls were received by people in the city during the month and maximum 110 cases were related to debit card transactions. While fraudsters duped people of Rs 79.98 lakh through both UPI as well as credit and debit card frauds in August, the cyber police have been able to retrieve Rs 6.11 lakh of the lost money, reports said on Thursday.

Sources said cybercriminals have swindled more than Rs 8 crore since February this year. Several residents of the city lost over Rs 1.39 crore to cyber fraudsters in February alone.

As many as 2,467 cyber fraud cases were registered between February and July, while over 30 fraudsters were nabbed and police managed to salvage over Rs 70 lakh of the lost amount.

In July, the cyber criminals reportedly duped several city residents of Rs 1.38 crore. During the month, the police received 368 complaint calls in Bhubaneswar and managed to retrieve around Rs 5.36 lakh of the lost amount.

With cyber criminals now targeting the people seeking online part-time jobs, the Odisha Police has issued an advisory cautioning about the scamsters.

Besides identity theft, creation of fake e-mail and Facebook accounts, hacking of e-mail accounts/passwords, ATM fraud, credit card fraud, online banking fraud, website defacement, cyber pornography, and posting of nude photographs/obscene posting have been reported.

Cybercriminals are now stealing the bank account details of mobile phone users asking them to submit their 20-digit SIM card number and Aadhar card details to upgrade their SIM from 4G to 5G, the reports added.