In Karnataka, cybercrimes rise 5 times in 4 years

A rapid stride in the tech world over the years has provided Karnataka with its own set of perils. While the state is fast emerging as the innovation capital of the country, Bengaluru also has the dubious distinction of being the cybercrime capital of India with a steep rise in the number of cyber frauds.

Even as the state police force is waking up to the digital crime that transcends physical boundaries, the lack of awareness and sensitisation, acute shortage of skilled staff and technological support have only added to the spike in the number of such crimes. Home to a record number of IT and ITES companies and tech start-ups, Bengaluru in 2018 witnessed about 5,250 cybercrime cases of various nature while in 2014 the number was 686.

Low detection

Unfolding initially as a credit and debit card related fraud, the cybercrime in recent times has a taken a curious turn with the character assassination of individuals and multi-crore frauds by lurking its way through popular social media platforms.

More than any commoners who could easily fall prey to such crimes, it is the well-learned and influential people who are being robbed or duped by the criminals. Worryingly, as per the statistics, nearly 70 per cent of the crimes go undetected.

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M A Saleem, Additional Director General of Police, Crime and Technical Services, told DH that spurt in the number of cases and buoyed by the need to protect citizens, the state police has set up Cybercrime, Economic Offences and Narcotic Drugs (CEN) stations in various parts of the state.

“As awareness is setting among the public, more and more such cases are being reported. As these criminals have a sound technical background, the investigators need to be trained. We have been providing such exposure and regular training to the staff at these CEN stations. But technology is something which keeps updating, providing the option for criminals to strike with a new tool. Nevertheless, we are also now technically empowered to handle such cases,” he said.

While Karnataka registered 1094 cyber crime cases in 2014, the numbers sharply increased in 2015 with 1,447 cases being reported. Even though there was a lull in 2016 with only 1,224 cases being reported, the numbers went up alarmingly in the subsequent years with 3,182 cases reported in 2017 and 5,712 cases in 2018. “In 2019, in less than four months, the number of cybercrime cases has already reached 3,496. It might touch 10,000 by the end of the year,” a cybersecurity expert opined.

Karnataka saw its first cybercrime station only in 2017 while cases of cybercrime kept pouring in for over a decade. “The fact that in less than two-and-half-years we have come up with technical infrastructure and required lab support shows our preparedness. In the days to come, our staffers will be well-trained to handle and detect such cases,” a senior police officer said.

Even though the cybercrime incidents in the state have their epicentre in Bengaluru, of late, several Tier-2 cities like Mangaluru, Mysuru, Hubballi-Dharwad and Belagavi have also begun to witness such incidents.

While the police are gearing up to tackle the cybercrime, low detection of cases has turned out to be a dampener. Senior officials in the cybercrime wing of CID attributed it to various legal hurdles. “There are several challenges involved in tracking these cybercriminals. They have no geographical barriers and many could be from overseas. It requires a collective effort by both the state and the centre to come out with a joint policy enabling officials to go to any extent in detecting the cases. Also, the lack of manpower adds to the delay in probing such crimes,” they said.

The only breakthrough in detecting and conviction of a cybercrime case in Karnataka was achieved in 2018 when CID sleuths successfully cracked a cyberstalking case of 2008 involving a techie-turned-advocate. Despite the culprit finding loopholes in the law, the sleuths presented a foolproof case resulting in the conviction and punishment of the culprit with a two-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000.

“It was a challenging task as the culprit gave up an engineering career to learn law and defend himself. Yet, for almost 10 years, we investigated and presented the facts to the court and proved it under the IT Act. That was a big morale booster for the staff and such efforts will continue with further momentum,” a top IPS officer at CID said.