Bhubaneswar: Cyber scammers defrauded several people, amounting to a staggering Rs 48 crore in the state in 2023, indicating the significant financial toll that online crimes have taken on the victims.
Last year, most of the victims lost money after being tempted by scamsters to earn quick money by completing some simple online tasks. As per the modus operandi, cyber criminals contacted people on social networking sites and lured them to earn money by working online from home.They sent messages to victims on the WhatsApp and Telegram, offering them money for doing simple online tasks like watching YouTube videos, filling some forms, writing reviews and pressing the like button.

“To earn the trust of victims, the scammers sent small amounts of money to their accounts for completing the online tasks. Once the victims started doing the tasks, the scammers lured them to pay deposits to continue the easy tasks for getting hefty returns. Many deposited lakhs and lost money,” deputy commissioner of police Prateek Singh said.
According to experts, timely reporting of the cyber fraud to police may help in recovering the lost money. Last year, the state police succeeded in recovering only around Rs 1.52 crore from cyber crooks.
“Our 1,930 helpline provides help only in cases of cyber financial frauds. If an affected person makes a call within one or two hours from the fraudulent withdrawal of money, the possibility of getting back their money increases. We can block the payment gateway, freeze the money in the account of the scammer and ask the bank to reverse the money to the account of the victim,” a crime branch official said.
Police said steps are being taken to link as many banks and digital wallets to the 1930 helpline as possible so that the recovery of money can become faster. Police added that sometimes they face difficulty as banks are not available on weekends and public holidays.
“Scammers use multiple mule accounts to channelise and transfer the cheated money. In holidays and non-banking hours, it is difficult to block the cheated money because of which the money would jump to various accounts. We will find out a solution following discussions with banks and payment gateways,” the police officer said.

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