Chandigarh saw 447 online frauds in 22 months

CHANDIGARH: With the city witnessing a total of 447 online fraud cases since January 2016, the cyber cell of

UT

police has revealed that a significant number of such cases happened post-demonetisation.

As many as 148 cases of ATM/debit/credit card cloning and 299 cases (regarding online transactions/shopping where people mistakenly shared PIN numbers with fraudsters) were reported with cyber cell in the past two years.

Out of 447 cases, the cyber cell has solved 302 cases so far.

As per the data, the UT cyber cell received a total of 939 complaints including abusive calls, messages on social sites, Facebook fake id,

cheating

on Facebook, e-mail hacking and other online complaints till date. The cyber cell has disposed of 705 complaints so far.

Harinder Singh Sekhon, in-charge, cyber cell, said after demonetization, people had increased the use of plastic money. During this period, cyber frauds have also increased, he added. Police have organized several awareness programmes regarding online frauds.

Police officials said there are some very basic guidelines for the people to keep themselves safe from online swindlers. They said out of many precautions, people should not disclose their debit or credit card PIN numbers to anybody in any case. They should also not share their bank account details with anyone over the phone. People should not take help from any stranger in an ATM booth or online transactions. They are supposed to change their PIN after two to three months to keep their cards secure.

Rajesh Rana

, a cyber security expert, said if anybody loses money to online fraudsters and he informs the cyber cell within 24 hours of the incident, then the chances of the recovery of his lost money is very high. In many cases, 100% money has been recovered.

Cyber Crimes On The Rise

Nature of complaints Cases Solved

ATM/debit/credit card cloning 148 88

Online transactions/shopping 299 214

Abusive calls, messages on social sites 77 55

Facebook fake ID/cheating 121 75

Online job frauds 51 13

Insurance

frauds 30 08