While the police in the state are worried about the demonetisation increasing the rate of cyber crime more than ever, reportedly, the cyber crime rate has actually dropped down in the city due to demonetisation. Despite earning itself the tag of being the cyber crime capital of Andhra Pradesh, Vizag has seen a total of 13 cases in November as opposed to the 25 it usually has on an average.
Sometimes, the number of cases per month even reach upto 30, and these are only the registered cases. In November, only 13 cases have been registered out of which only one of them is an OTP related one. Usually, almost 80 percent of the cases are related to OTP wherein a fake bank official calls and collects details of ATM cards. In other cases, the offenders take in the details through mails.
After the demonetisation and the state government’s encouragement to switch to digital transactions, the police officials in the state have been worried that it will spark an influx of cyber crime cases. There are plans to open up a cyber crime lab in Visakhapatnam for the same. The Cyber Crime Investigation Cell believe this is so that people are in regular touch with bank officials during this period and a fake call inquiring their card details would raise doubts.
However, many believe that this is just the calm before a storm. It is believed that hackers will simply devise new ways to rip off people.
