Chennai police return Rs 12 cr to cybercrime victims
Besides the Rs 12.31 crore retrieval, complainants who realized they were conned and complained within the ‘golden hour’ got their money back as police liaised with banks.
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CHENNAI: In 2024, the cybercrime wing of the Greater Chennai Police has frozen Rs 36.63 crore siphoned off by cyber fraudsters and parked in bank accounts across the country. The police managed to retrieve Rs 12.31 crore through legal recourse and handed them over to the victims.
Besides the Rs 12.31 crore retrieval, complainants who realized they were conned and complained within the ‘golden hour’ got their money back as police liaised with banks.
According to official data provided by the city police, the cybercrime wing of the city police has registered as many as 325 cases based on complaints registered by victims with the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP). Police teams from Chennai went to the lengths and breadths of the country by tracing the digital trail of the cyber fraudsters and arrested 36 persons.
In November, a cybercrime team attached to Chennai police arrested a 38-year-old man from Assam for duping several persons including a retired central government official from Chennai in a ‘Digital Arrest’ scam. City police acted on a complaint from a retired administrative officer of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) based in Tiruvanmiyur and found that he had received Rs 3.8 crore in a single day.
On September 3, a man claiming to be a Maharashtra police called the victim and told him that an arrest warrant was pending against him. He demanded ID proof and other details and instructed the victim to appear in Mumbai in connection with a money laundering case.
City police appealed to the public to not fall to Cyber scams such as digital arrest and requested the public to register complaints in helpline 1930 or www.cybercrime.gov.in.