62% of cybercrime complaints linked to financial frauds: Delhi Police
What's the story
At least 62% of the cybercrime complaints lodged in 2020 were related to financial frauds, Delhi Police said in a statement. The Delhi Police said a spurt was witnessed in incidents of cybercrime during the coronavirus lockdown. "Among the complaints of various cybercrime received, the predominant ones are online financial frauds," the statement said.
Details
Extortion related to sexual conduct has increased manifold
A perusal of the complaints received by the police reveals that cases of extortion by morphing videos of people, especially related to sexual conduct, have increased manifold. Almost 24% of the complaints were related to social media, primarily online harassment, and the rest 14% were related to crimes such as hacking and data theft.
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Money extortion against tax violations common modus operandi
"Another modus operandi commonly used is to extort money after threatening legal action in respect of tax violations, social security number misuse, or immigration rule violations," the statement issued by the police said.
Fake call centers
Fake call centers used to cheat foreign nationals
Several cases were registered in matters related to tech support, immigration, and IRS call center scams, and 125 persons were arrested. The fake call centers were being used to cheat foreign nationals, primarily targeting the citizens of English-speaking countries. They impersonate as legitimate technical support from reputed tech companies such as Microsoft, Apple, HP, AT&T.
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Delhi Police busted five fake call centers
The statement said, "The Delhi Police has busted five fake call centers that were operating at a big level from Moti Nagar, Rajouri Garden, and Peeragarhi and arrested 125 persons, including the owners or managers who were operating these."
Arrests
214 online offenders arrested, 278 profiles blocked
The cybercrime unit of the Delhi Police has been taking stringent action against criminals and arrested more than 214 offenders. "Due to the action taken by police, 278 profiles containing objectionable content were blocked. This includes Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, and YouTube accounts. The maximum number of accounts that were blocked, almost 140 were of Twitter," the statement added.