Uttar Pradesh Is Cybercrime Capital Of India, Over 11,000 Cases Reported In 2020
Across the country, the number of reported cybercrime cases went up from 44,735 to 50,035 and the most common motive in over 30,000 of these cases of cybercrime were fraud. Other motives that were reported included revenge, anger, sexual exploitation, pranks, terrorist activities etc.
Registering over 11,000 cybercrime cases in 2020 alone, Uttar Pradesh has claimed the spot of the state with the highest incidents of cybercrime, according to data released by the latest National Crime Records Bureau.
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As per the data, UP takes the crown from Karnataka, which earlier held the position of the most reported cybercrime cases. According to Uttar Pradesh director general of police, Mukul Goel, addressing cybercrime was becoming a challenge in the state where anyone, even the police staff was falling victim to it and that they weren¡¯t adequately trained to tackle it.
Based on the NCRB report, Karnataka had the highest cases of cybercrime with 12,020 incidents in 2019. This number dropped to 10,741 cases in 2020. UP on the other hand had a total of 11,416 cases in 2019, and while it dropped ever so slightly in 2020 with 11,097, it was the highest across the nation.
Across the country, the number of reported cybercrime cases went up from 44,735 to 50,035 and the most common motive in over 30,000 of these cases of cybercrime were fraud. Other motives that were reported included revenge, anger, sexual exploitation, pranks, terrorist activities etc.
UP also accounted for 85 percent of ransomware related crimes in the country -- with 618 out of a total 727 originating from UP alone. UP was also the highest in the number of forgery cases -- out of 580 cases related to forgery, 371 were from UP.
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PTI
According to UP ADG (Law and Order), Prashant Kumar in a conversation with TOI, UP Police is currently focussing on capacity development of their personnel to better combat cybercrime. He said, "Over 10,000 policemen are being trained to equip them with technical know-how. We also have a dedicated force with in-depth knowledge of IT-related crimes. We have cyber cells in every district, but they were unable to deal with increasing cases so we have also set up cyber help desks at every police station in the state."
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But it wasn¡¯t just UP that had the most number of cybercrimes reported. Telangana recorded the highest number of bank frauds, along with around half of the total OTP-related frauds in the country. Bihar saw most cases of credit/debit card fraud.
Maharashtra had the highest number of cases for cyberstalking and bullying of women (398 cases) followed by Andhra Pradesh (100 cases).
Around 563 cases were registered related to fake news on social media and Telangana topped the list with 135 cases, followed by UP at 109 cases, and Andhra Pradesh at 106.
What do you think about the rising number of cybercrimes happening in Uttar Pradesh? Can the UP government crack down on cyber threats or does responsibility lie with educating online users about how to stay safe online more effectively? Let us know in the comments section below, and keep reading Indiatimes.com for all the latest technology and science news.