133 cyber fraudsters held in Mewat region

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Police under a special drive ‘Operation Anti Virus’ have arrested 133 people across the state in connection with the cyber crime cases, especially in the Mewat region, officials familiar with the matter said, adding that the drive was launched in ending February.

According to the officials, most of the accused fall in the 15 to 25 age group.

“There has been an increase in the number of cyber frauds and Mewat seems to be replacing (Jharkhand’s) Jamtara which is known as a hub of cyber-crime. Our target is to make it a cyber-crime-free region. Operation Anti Virus is the stepping stone towards that goal. However, many more action plans are in the line,” said Bharatpur range inspector general of police Rahul Prakash who launched the drive across its six districts Bharatpur, Deeg, Dholpur, Karauli, Sawai Madhopur, and Gangapur on February 29.

During the drive in the last two months, the Mewat region recorded a significant 34% decrease in cybercrime, according to a report of the mission disclosed by the Bharatpur range police on Saturday. The report was also submitted to the Union ministry of home affairs, said an official.

At least 6,530 cases were registered in February in Deeg (which covers majority of the Mewat region) when the police initiated the drive, the figure dropped to 4,317 in April when it was concluded, said the officials.

“Three to four cases were also registered in Bharatpur district,” said head constable Jitendra Sain from the Bharatpur range who was part of the team.

The report said that a “total of 133 people were held in the last two months based on 51 FIRs,” all from Deeg. The police have also seized ₹286,100 unaccounted cash, 252 mobile phones, 294 SIM cards, 134 ATM cards, nine micro-ATM cards, six laptops, six computers, 25 vehicles, 28 passbooks, 37 checkbooks, five weapons, six cartridges, and six swipe machines during the mission.

“Following the order by the IG to launch the mission, a special team of two sub-inspectors and three constables was formed to investigate all the cases registered in Bharatpur while the district police were given the charge to track the cases and report to the IG daily,” said Sain.

The police also prepared a list of key locations and wanted accused involved in cyber crime and tracked them actively. “While tracking them, we found about other people who have been committing such crimes — all of them were arrested. A database of 300 to 400 more charge-sheeted accused is also being prepared along with the details of their inter-state connections intercepted through the SIM cards and other devices. It will help us take further action,” said Deeg police superintendent Rajesh Meena.

According to a report by the MHA’s Indian Cybercrime Co-ordination Centre last year (that compiled the cybercrime rate across top 10 places of the country in the last three years till May 2023), Bharatpur topped the chart followed by Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura, Haryana’s Nuh, Jharkhand’s Deoghar, Jamtara, and Rajasthan’s Alwar contributing to the majority of the cybercrime in the country.

The MHA data also showed that a total 16% of the cybercrime cases in India emerged from Bharatpur, followed by Mathura (14%), Nuh (12%), and Jamtara (12%). Cumulatively, these top 10 places identified by the home ministry account for 81% of cybercrimes registered across India.The cyber experts however believed that the figure is an outcome of the police department’s failure “to understand a potential challenge” in cybercrime over the years.

“The number of cybercrimes in Mewat have been going up since 2015-16. If the police would have identified it at that time and launched an immediate crackdown, such a hazard could have been averted. They acted late. The current clampdown coupled with a systematic action, and forming a dedicated cell may stop this growth even now,” said a cyber-security consultant Mukesh Choudhary.

The fraudsters shifted from physical thefts to online because of the increase in digital platforms as it also allows them to avoid any physical meeting, making the job easier, said Choudhary. “It majorly started after the launch of Olx in 2013. The fraudsters used to upload fake advertisements of bikes and cars pretending to be an army personnel or a doctor or engineer. They used to ask the customers to transfer a 15-20% advance and stop communicating afterwards. Since the platform’s verification model was poor at the early stage, it was also very difficult to nab them,” he added.Later, they also shifted to the scam using OTP through the early fintech platforms during 2018-19. “They would start using the customer’s account through the OTP and transfer the amount to another fraud account so that police could not easily identify them. Their only goal was to make the process complicated for the police to delay the investigation process so that they can clear up all the possible evidence.”

During Covid, the home delivery of liquor, oxygen cylinders, and medicines through the social media platforms also increased fraud cases and trading scams through crypto currency and fake mutual fund websites, said the consultant.

Choudhary said that the success rate of the cyber crime in Mewat also lead to growing corruption. “The accused do not need much educational qualification to do this fraud. Both educated and non-educated get involved in this business due to growing unemployment rate. The cyber fraud helps in making easy money... in many cases, accused even bribe a police personnel at the lower rank when they go to arrest them,” he said.

Deeg SP Rajesh Meena said the cyber fraudsters in Mewat usually do not engage someone from the nearby areas.

“Their target is the people around a minimum of 500 to 600 kilometers away from them. Therefore, many cases are also not registered in the Mewat region also. However, we are also gathering the data of those cases from different districts and states to identify the criminals.”