The Coimbatore District (Rural) Police have urged the public to be cautious about cyber scams ranging from KYC fraud to investment fraud to ‘digital arrest’, as people from their jurisdiction lost about ₹36.23 crore to scamsters in the past nine months.
The District Police received a total of 4,535 cybercrime complaints during the period, out of which 2,078 complaints were received through the cyber crime helpline 1930, and 2,457 complaints through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP).
Among the major categories, the police received 917 complaints related to cheating through e-commerce/online purchase, 415 related to loan apps, 276 for job frauds, 259 for APK file-related scams, 201 related to ‘wrong-number’ calls, 198 hacking complaints, 183 personal loan complaints, 163 for credit card fraud, 162 related to investment/trading fraud and 151 social media-related complaints.
In terms of the amount involved, investment/trading fraud alone accounted for loss to the tune of ₹15,73,86,766. Cheating through e-commerce/online purchase resulted in the loss of ₹2,08,36,227. Complainants lost money to the tune of ₹1,77,29,337 in job frauds, ₹1,30,98,751 in APK file-related scams, ₹1,06,61,671 in credit card fraud and ₹1,04,08,810 in digital arrest scam.
The District Police wanted the public to be cautious about common methods adopted by cyber criminals. In a UPI/QR code fraud, victims are induced to scan fake QR codes or make UPI payments under false pretences. In OTP fraud, fraudsters impersonate bank officials, government representatives or others to obtain OTPs to carry out unauthorised transactions.
For phishing, cyber criminals use fake websites, e-mails, SMS or malicious links. In a credit/debit card fraud, card numbers, CVV and other card information are fraudulently obtained and used for unauthorised transactions. Scamsters involved in investment/trading fraud lure victims by promising unusually high returns from investment or trading schemes.
In an online shopping fraud, fraudsters operate fake websites or social media pages, collect payment for products and subsequently fail to deliver them. Loan app fraud is operated using fake or malicious loan applications to obtain money or personal information from victims.
In the now most common ‘digital arrest’ scam, fraudsters impersonate law enforcement authorities and threaten gullible victims, mainly elders, by claiming that their bank accounts or other credentials were involved in fraudulent activities. They make the victims transfer their money from their back accounts on the pretext of a verification.
According to the police, immediate reporting to national cyber crime helpline (1930) or NCRP (cybercrime.gov.in) is extremely important in the event of a financial cyber fraud.
Published – October 02, 2026 09:09 pm IST
