Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi slammed the Maharashtra government on Tuesday over public apathy amid rising cases of cyber fraud.
Sharing a recent incident where her septuagenarian father was targeted by cyber fraudsters, Chaturvedi said, “About a fortnight ago, my 77-year-old father was a victim of cyber fraud and was trapped in a scam for half an hour before he realised what was happening. Thankfully nothing was lost and he filed an FIR.”
Responding to reports that Mumbai’s cyber police department has been functioning without a full-time Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) for almost 19 months, she questioned both the state and central government’s commitment to curbing rising cyber fraud.
“I doubt the state government, or for that matter even the central government, is prioritising a crackdown on these fraudsters. I have raised this concern several times and even written to Hon. Ministers but haven’t received even a response. Now, this report of Maharashtra’s cyber department being without a DCP for over 18 months just reflects the total apathy towards the concerns of the common people,” she stated.
Notably, last month the Free Press Journal reported that in the first nine months of the year, there was a 27 percent increase in cybercrime cases compared to the same period last year.
Statistics revealed that 4,054 cybercrime cases were registered this year, of which 920 cases were solved and 970 persons were arrested. Last year, 3,191 cybercrime cases were registered from January to September. The data also showed a 38 percent rise in online cheating cases.
