BHUBANESWAR: In the last seven months, cyber fraudsters have cheated people of Rs 45.84 crore through various means such as digital arrest, investment fraud, and fraudulent calls in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. The Commissionerate Police recovered Rs 1.37 crore swindled by cyber fraudsters from different city residents between January and July this year.
The recovered amounts were returned to the complainants at the ‘Cyber Fraud Money Return Mela’ organised on Thursday by the Commissionerate Police.
“On August 6, my wife got a call from an unknown person who promised her good returns from an investment. She might have clicked a link, which led to the deduction of Rs 1.26 lakh. When I found out about this, I told her that it was a fraud call. She went to the Cyber Crime and Economic Offence police station for help,” said a govt staff member, Laxmikanta Mohapatra.
He said the police immediately took cognisance of their complaint and started the probe. “The accused was from Rajasthan. The cyber police station staff worked on the case and recovered the whole amount. Rs 1.26 lakh is a significant amount for a middle-class family like ours. I did not expect that I would get the money back, but the Commissionerate Police recovered it,” he added.
Like him, several others received their swindled money back. One S Pattanaik from the city had lost Rs 35.6 lakh to a fraudster in a WhatsApp fraud case. The cyber police staff recovered the amount. Similarly, a woman had lost Rs 10 lakh through an Army personnel medical check-up fraud call. However, the whole amount was reversed back to her account, said twin city police commissioner Sanjeeb Panda.
He said the police have recovered Rs 11 lakh out of Rs 81.5 lakh swindled by fraudsters in an investment fraud case. The money was recovered from Maharashtra. One R Rai had lost Rs 15.8 lakh to a digital arrest fraud case. Later, with the help of the police, he received Rs 10 lakh, he added.
He said many highly educated persons fell prey to high-value investment fraud and digital arrest cases. “In investment fraud cases, delay in reporting to the police costs the victims a lot because fraudsters transfer the money to different accounts and withdraw it immediately,” he added.
Panda said they have strengthened the cyber police station, keeping the increasing number of cybercrime cases in mind. “An assistant commissioner of police (ACP) rank officer is in charge of the police station. Besides, it has an inspector rank officer, two sub-inspectors, and 10 constables. They have proficiency in such types of cases,” he added.