Cases of online financial fraud using your credit or debit card have seen an increase of over 225 per cent amid the pandemic - from 367 in 2109 to 1194 in 2020, according to data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in their Crime In India 2020 report, released on September 15. India had seen a rise in phishing cases last year and the increase in phishing via the Aarogya Setu app also made headlines in 2020.
How is this fraud perpetuated? The year saw 4,047 cases of online banking fraud, 1,093 OTP frauds and 1,194 credit/debit card fraud, while 2,160 cases related to ATM were reported in 2020, the NCRB figures showed. In terms of motive, a whopping 60.2 per of the cent cyber crimes lodged in 2020 were done for the sake of fraud (30,142 out of 50,035 cases), the NCRB, which functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs, stated.
The rate of cyber crime (incidents per lakh population) also increased from 3.3 per cent in 2019 to 3.7 per cent in 2020 in the country, according to the data released. In 2019, the country recorded 44,735 cases of cyber crime, while the figures stood at 27,248 in 2018, the data from corresponding years showed.
The Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown resulted in a drop in traditional crimes like theft, robbery, and assault on women and children in 2020, but there was a drastic jump in disobedience to government orders, primarily arising due to violations of COVID-19 norms, official data showed.
According to the latest report of the NCRB on Crime in India 2020, a total of 66,01,285 cognisable crimes comprising 42,54,356 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 23,46,929 Special and Local Laws (SLL) crimes were registered in 2020. NCRB has been bringing out the Crime in India report since 1953. It shows an increase of 14,45,127 (28 per cent) in registration of cases over 2019 (51,56,158 cases), while the crime rate registered per lakh population increased from 385.5 in 2019 to 487.8 in 2020.
