From Noida to Kerala: Mumbai Police maps cyber crime hotspots

Investigators told The Indian Express that until the two new cases, they had traced a chunk of cyber frauds operating in Mumbai to states such as Jharkhand, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Bihar, and specific locations like Noida in the National Capital Region. They now suspect that locations in Kerala could be turning into a hub of “investment scams”.

“There are groups in certain parts of the country that become adept at particular types of cons. They then stick to these cons, and the area becomes a hub,” said Hemraj Rajput, DCP (Cyber), Mumbai Police.

According to police data, scams operated through fake loan apps led to 92 cases being registered this year till August-end. The DCP said that investigators have traced “a majority of these cases” to Asansol in West Bengal and Motihari in Bihar.

“West Bengal is also the place where most cyber cons get SIM cards with which they make fake calls that cannot be tracked back to them. Loan app calls come primarily from Karnataka numbers and the follow-up threats are from Nepal,” Rajput said.

The data shows that 61 cases of sextortion were lodged by Mumbai Police this year till August-end, mainly from Haryana’s Mewat near the border with Rajasthan. In several such cases, fraudsters make video calls primarily to men and show a video clip of a woman undressing. They then capture videos of their target and use it to blackmail the person.

Of the 13 cases of insurance scams, where people are told that they stand to get money from a scheme — although they have not invested in one — Rajput said several originated from call centres in and around Delhi, like Noida.

Then there are electricity bill scams that have been traced to Jharkhand, he said, although the data on them is yet to be collated since the incidents are recent. These cases typically involve messages in which the victims are told they will face disconnection if they do not pay their bill instantly. The contact numbers provided in these messages lead to fraudsters.

Another senior officer overseeing cyber crime probes in Mumbai said that over the past month-and-a-half, his team visited Kerala thrice in connection with cyber crime investigations. Again, with such cases being registered mainly over the past month, the police are yet to compile data related to them.

“Our team visited one location in south Kerala and another along the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border in connection with investment scams,” the officer said.

He traced the emergence of such hotspots to the fraudulent phone calls that made Jamtara in Jharkhand one of the country’s first cyber crime hubs. “Jamtara got major media attention, including a web series, thereby putting pressure on the local administration which drove out fraudsters by taking strict action. At one point, all officers at local police stations in Jamtara had been replaced,” the officer said.

“Economically, it makes sense for cyber criminals to work from hubs as more people can make use of the same infrastructure. At a lot of these places, they worked in cahoots with the local administration,” he said.

“However, once there is enough attention by law enforcement agencies and media, after a particular area constantly shows up on the radar of cyber crime investigators, there is pressure on the local administration to drive them out. Hence, you see that every few years there are new places from where cyber crimes are carried out,” the officer said.