Tech-savvy youth committing cyber frauds

Visakhapatnam: Many victims in cybercrimes belong to younger generation and are tech-savvy in the city. Those who were caught have been attracted to crime mostly to make a fast buck. 

According to a report released by the Cybercrime Investigation Cell (CCIC), Visakhapatnam in 2017, over 1,160 victims have been arrested in cybercrimes in the city and among these, 280 were either under-graduates or post-graduates and over 460 were working professionals. Only 56 victims studied upto SSC while 245 victims were not even completed SSC.

In 2018 (from January to May), of the 378 victims in cybercrimes, 92 were either under-graduates or post-graduate and 152 were working professionals while 76 were SSC qualified and 21 were not even completed SSC. 

Speaking to media here on Monday, Joint Commissioner of Police II T Ravi Kumar Murthy said the cybercrimes were mostly committed by educated or tech-savvy youth. He said that the greed for easy money was driving the youth to commit the offences.

CCIC inspector V Gopinath said among 581 cases, 292 were one-time password (OTP) frauds. Over a span of four months (from January to May-2018), the city cybercrime police have received a staggering 189 cybercrime complaints. A total of 581 cybercrimes were reported with CCIC in the city during 2017.