Citizens from Madhya Pradesh have lost Rs 51.33 lakh crore to online fraud during the Covid-19 lockdown due to increased internet engagement as people looked for leisure activities, jobs and articles of daily use.
According to data by the state government, in 2020, when Covid-19 was declared, people lost Rs 11.46 crore to fraudsters online while in 2021, the amount swindled stood at Rs 26.85 crore.
A total of 1,366 persons lodged complaints of online fraud with the cyber police, amounting to loss of Rs 51.33 crore in the last five years.
Cyber crime peaks to 37% in 2020
As the physical world was crippled with lockdowns and the virus threat in 2020, cyber criminals found a golden opportunity as online crime shot up to 37% as compared to. 2019 when the crime rate was 16%. This shows that cyber crime doubled in 2020. In 2017, 170 incidents of cyber crime were reported while the number surged to 211 in 2018 with an increase of 24 per cent. The year 2021 has been no exception as the state reported 402 new cases with a rate of 19 per cent.
Cyber police clocked 68% case disposal in five years
Recording a smart disposal rate in registered cases, the cyber police in the state has lodged 3,191 cases under the IT Act over the past five years. As many as 2,191 cases have been disposed while 998 cases are under investigation. In 2021, cyber police headquarters in Bhopal registered 44 cases presenting challans in 11 cases, while 33 are under investigation.
Zonal office at Indore has lodged 32…
