Cyber crimes in Pune: Loan app, sextortion, KYC, power bill frauds on rise

After recently taking over as the Commissioner of Police of Pune City, Retesh Kumaarr had said Pune requires more number of dedicated cyber crime police stations in addition to the existing one, considering the expanse of the city and the number of complaints received per year. He also said that training of available personnel in cyber crime investigation will be one of his priorities.

As per the comparative data shared by the Cyber Crime police station, in 2021 it received around 19,020 complaints while in 2022, it received around 19,400. The rise is in spite of the fact that since October 2022, a large chunk of complaints received were directly sent to the police stations following an organisational restructuring, and do not reflect in the data. A look at the data shows that five heads of cyber crime cases showed significant rise from 2021 to 2022.

Loan app, extortion

From 928 in 2021 to 3,471 cases in 2022, cases of frauds and extortion through online applications offering small loans formed a major chunk of the cyber crime complaints received by Pune City police. The victims fall prey to offers of small loans through online applications which offer quick credit ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 10,000. While giving the loans, the entities running the app gain access to the person’s contact list, photos etc. Few days after the disbursement of the loan, ‘executives’ of the loan app start demanding repayment — with large interest rates ranging from 30 to 300 per cent. If not repaid, these ‘executives’ threaten to send defamatory messages to victims’ contacts and morphed obscene images as they continue to harass and threaten the victims. In many cases they continue to extort money even after repayment with exorbitant interest rates.

Pune City police recently unearthed a major online extortion racket operating through these loan apps, whose suspected masterminds are based in China and Dubai. While probing cases of online extortion against loan app operatives Pune Cyber police station busted two fraudulent call centres in Bengaluru and arrested around 20 people. Police have also recovered data of about one lakh citizens across India who may have been targeted by these loan app racketeers. “Most of the victims turn to such apps in times of dire need of money. The racketeers take advantage of this situation,” said Senior Inspector Minal Patil, in-charge of the cyber crime police station.

Sextortion

In cases of online sextortion cyber criminals threaten to distribute private and sensitive material of the victims online and demand money or more images of sexual nature or sexual favours. From 652 in 2021 to 1,458 in 2022, cases of sextortion have more than doubled. Officials probing these cases have said the victims are contacted by the cyber criminals through fake profiles of attractive looking men or women on social media platforms or phone messengers. The perpetrators subsequently gain confidence and lure the victims into making video calls or sending images. In most cases these video calls are recorded. The victims are then blackmailed by the perpetrators into giving money, sexual favours and in some cases inside information or sensitive data that the victims have access to.

On September 28 last year, a 19-year-old student pursuing his Commerce degree allegedly ended his life by jumping from a building in Dattawadi area. Two days later, a 22-year-old Industrial Training student allegedly hanged himself to death. The police probe revealed that these young men were victims of sextortion. Both were threatened with circulation of their objectionable images on social media platforms and the cyber criminals were extorting money from them. Following the investigation, Pune police busted the sextortion racket and arrested the perpetrators from a village in Rajasthan, from where a large number of such rackets were being operated. Pune police have also put in place a Standard Operating Procedure for the speedy and effective investigation into such cases of online sextortion.

Cryptocurrency

Number of people cheated through promises of large returns on investment in various cryptocurrency approaching Pune City police rose from 71 in 2021 to 154 in 2022. Officials said that with an increasing number of people investing in the virtual currency for higher returns, fraudulent platforms cheating people have also mushroomed. Officials from the cyber crime cell said that these frauds are perpetrated in broadly three ways. In some cases cyber criminals seek investment from people promising high returns on investment in known cryptocurrencies. In some cases cyber fraudsters claim to have created their own cryptocurrencies and cheat the investors through them. While in some cases suspects put up fraudulent exchanges for well-known virtual currencies and flee with investors’ money.

In one of the biggest breakthroughs in a cryptocurrency case, Pune City police’s cyber crime cell had in March last year arrested two cyber crime experts including an ex-IPS officer who had helped a Special Investigation Team of Pune police in the probe of two cases of multimillion dollar bitcoin ponzi scheme in 2018 and siphoned off large sums of cryptocurrency from the wallets of accused in those cases.

KYC update

From 552 in 2021 to 746 in 2022, the number of people falling prey to the Know Your Customer (KYC) frauds has also seen a significant rise. The victims receive calls, messages or emails seeking personal details and information of bank account, bank cards on the pretext of updating the KYC along with a threat or warning to freeze or deactivate the account. These fraudsters trick people into giving away login details, PINS, passwords or OTPs.

In some cases criminals gain access to the phones of the victims by asking them to install unauthorised applications or by making them click links. The criminals use this information or remote access to siphon money from the victims’ accounts or cards. Similar modus operandi is used in the case when victims are asked to update their KYC details for phone numbers, online phone payment platforms. The Reserve Bank of India has issued advisories in the past alerting bank customers about the KYC frauds.

Officials said that KYC update frauds are among the many methods of phishing used by the cyber criminals in which fraudsters use various means to scam people into revealing sensitive information. The RBI has also issued guidelines on safe digital banking practices.

Power bill frauds

Officials from the cyber crime cell said that in 2021, they did not have a separate category recording the cases in which people were cheated on the pretext of power bill payments. In 2022, looking at a much higher number of cases, these cases were separately documented. In 2022, the cyber crime cell received as many as 472 cases in which people were cheated. Officials estimate the number was less than 100 in 2021.

In these frauds, consumers receive messages saying their power supply will be disconnected for non-payment of bills or on the pretexts like ‘previous bill not updated.’ These messages in many cases have embedded links to download apps for payment or ask customers to contact WhatsApp numbers or email addresses. The perpetrators then gain remote access to phones of the users or use the information gathered to siphon money from the customers’ accounts.

The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) has issued an advisory to the consumers against fraudulent messages being sent with fake numbers or embedded links. MSEDCL has said that it only sends SMS alerts to consumers from sender IDs like VM-MSEDCL, VK-MSEDCL and under no circumstances personal numbers are given.