The demand to form a special investigation team comprising officers trained in probing online economic offences and banking frauds is yet to become a reality despite an increase in the number of online cheating cases in the district. Now, investigation is progressing into 70 major cases under different investigation teams where the suspects are still at large.
Figures available with the Kozhikode city and rural police attest that there are about 300 persons who have already approached the police seeking action to recover their lost money and net the fraudsters. Though money has been recovered in some cases, the probe is yet to net the suspects.
“There is no coordination now to probe various online cheating cases registered across the State. At least the support of the Crime Branch should be there as they have a specialised wing to attend such complaints,” said a retired banking professional from Vadakara who happened to be one of the victims in online banking fraud. He also pointed out that there should be an adalat at the earliest to help people who are yet to lodge their petitions.
Police sources also reveal that the investigation into online financial frauds will become more effective only with the formation of State-level and district-level squads that can effectively study the nature of crimes and work focussed to track the suspects. The local police are now struggling to invest their time exclusively for the online fraud cases along with their routine law and order responsibilities.
Though the Cyber Police station in Kozhikode city is handling some major cases, a majority of local incidents are still with the local police squads. With the delay in exposing the criminals behind the fraudsters’ network, there are also incidents in which the complainants do not approach the police. The State-level helpline launched to gather information from the victims is also continuing to be unfamiliar for many.
Other than the financial extortion, some of the complainants are also victims of blackmailing attempts of fraudsters who operated online loan schemes using special apps. There is a growing demand to probe cyber cases related to stealing of personal data including photographs for blackmailing. The demand comes up at a time when the State has witnessed a few unnatural deaths subsequent to the blackmailing attempts of fraudsters.
