Achive.php January 3, 2025 - The Cyber Shark
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Archives for January 3, 2025

Bank official among four held for siphoning Rs 12 crore from Bengaluru firm’s accounts

cyber criminals

Investigations revealed the gang was transferring Rs 12.30 crore across multiple cyber criminals accounts, with similar cases filed against them in 12 police stations across eight states. Bapatla police have arrested two cyber criminals who transferred over Rs 74 lakh into fraudulent accounts, with two main suspects still at large. The arrests were announced by Bapatla District Superintendent of Police (SP) Tushar Dudi during a press conference on 02-01-2025. The victim, G Sri Lakshmi Vara Prasad Rao, a retired professor from Chundur, reported the cyber criminals after unknown individuals falsely accused him of money laundering and siphoned Rs 74 lakh from his bank account. Police promptly froze the accounts and launched an investigation. Amid rising cybercrime cases, SP Dudi formed special teams led by IT Core Sub-Inspector (SP) Naib Rasool and Chundur Circle Inspector (CI) Srikanth. The teams traced the suspects to Rajasthan and Mumbai, arresting Ramesh (A3) and Shrawan Kumar (A4), both from Rajasthan, while the primary accused, Akash Kulhari and Sriva Prasad, remain at large. Investigations revealed the gang was involved in transferring Rs 12.30 crore across multiple fraudulent accounts, with similar cases filed against them in 12 police stations across eight States, including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal, Gujarat, Telangana, and Rajasthan. Ramesh and Shrawan are accused of transferring Rs 15 lakh and Rs 35 lakh, respectively, across several cases. Police seized Rs 7 lakh in cash, 24 ATM cards, and 11 checkbooks, and froze Rs 17.90 lakh in accounts linked to the suspects. The gang is believed to have defrauded victims of Rs 10 crore in 43 cases across 39 districts in 18 States, as recorded on the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) portal. The SP warned the public about such cyber scams, clarifying that ‘cyber criminals’ do not exist. He urged victims to immediately report cybercrimes by calling 1930. The SP commended the efforts of the IT core team, special squads, and police personnel in cracking the case, emphasizing ongoing efforts to apprehend the remaining suspects.

WhatsApp, the biggest social media platform misused by cyber criminals in India

cyber criminals

14,746 complaints file for cyber criminals were related to WhatsApp, 7,651 against Telegram, 7,152 against Instagram, 7,051 against Facebook, and 1,135 against YouTube till March 2024, says MHA report WhatsApp remains the biggest social media platform that is possibly misused by cyber criminals in India, according to the latest annual report of the Union Home Ministry. The data published in the report on “cybercrime complaints where Big Tech platforms have been misused” shows that 14,746 complaints were related to WhatsApp, 7,651 against Telegram, 7,152 against Instagram, 7,051 against Facebook, and 1,135 against YouTube till March 2024. “Big techs play an important role in proactive identification and action on cyber criminals. I4C has partnered with Google and Facebook for sharing intelligence and signals for proactive actions,” the report said. National Cybercrime Threat Analytical Unit (NCTAU) of I4C analyses the complaints reported on the portal and prepares analysis reports on the latest trends of cybercrime and misuse of services provided by service providers, it said. “These reports are shared with all the concerned stakeholders, i.e., banks, wallets, merchants, payments aggregators, payment gateways, e-commerce, and other departments to take preventive measures and mitigate the misuse of their platforms/services,” the report said. The Ministry has also rolled out a Cyber Volunteer Framework, which enables citizens to enroll as cyber volunteers for reporting unlawful content on the Internet, dissemination of cyber hygiene, and as cyber experts to aid law enforcement under which 54,833 volunteers had registered by March 31, 2024, according to the report. The Ministry’s integrated platform Citizen Financial Cyber cyber criminals Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS), where all stakeholders, including law enforcement agencies of States/Union Territories, all major banks and financial intermediaries, payment wallets, crypto exchanges, and e-commerce companies, work in tandem. The platform ensures quick, decisive, and system-based effective action to prevent the flow of money from the victim’s account to the cyber fraudster’s account, and the seized money is restored to the victim following due legal process, it said. “Since its launch in April 2021, so far this platform has been able to save more than Rs 16 billion from going into the hands of fraudsters, and thus benefiting more than 5,75,000 victims,” it said.