An escalating digital crisis has emerged, impacting law enforcement agencies and the Union Home Ministry, as job scams and sextortion cases witness a staggering surge, while incidents related to Chinese loan app frauds have notably declined, according to exclusive government data.
Recent months have witnessed an alarming spike in complaints concerning job scams, with figures skyrocketing by an astounding 400 percent. What initially stood at 2,252 cases in August escalated dramatically to over 9,000 in September and soared further to more than 9,400 in October. This unprecedented surge poses a perplexing challenge for authorities, leaving them baffled about the sudden rise.
Simultaneously, sextortion cases abruptly surfaced on the radar, recording 4,376 reported incidents in September, followed by a surge to over 4,800 cases in October. Victims turned to government helplines seeking redressal, marking a significant increase in this alarming digital crime.
However, amidst these concerning trends, cases related to Chinese loan app frauds witnessed a surprising downturn. These scams, which previously caused fatalities nationwide, demonstrated a decline starting from January. While there were approximately 7,900 monthly cases on average, the number dropped to 7,100 in August and further reduced to 7,052 by October.
The Union Home Ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), recently took action against 100 websites involved in organized investment scams, including part-time job frauds.
These websites, facilitating illegal investments and economic crimes, were found to be operated by overseas entities using digital advertisements, chat messengers, and rented accounts. The ministry highlighted concerns regarding the laundering of proceeds from these large-scale frauds using various channels such as card networks, cryptocurrencies, overseas ATM withdrawals, and international Fintech companies.
Numerous complaints received through helplines underscored the severity of these offenses, posing significant threats to citizens and raising data security concerns, as stated by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).