Cyber crime increasing in Hyderabad, data shows

Cyber crime in Hyderabad showed a significant 37 per cent rise this year with offences such as sending objectionable or "stalking" text messages or emails being most common, the city police said today.
While the overall crime cases registered an increase of 10 per cent -- from 19,110 last year to 21,035 this year, there was a sharp rise in rape cases, Hyderabad police commissioner M Mahender Reddy today said.
The cases registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) stood at 16,537, a little more than 16,359 in 2013, he said while releasing annual crime statistics for the city.
Cyber crime cases showed almost 37 per cent increase from 479 in 2013 to 655 this year, with the offences of "stalking SMS" and e-mails topping the list (105), followed by that of uploading fake profiles of women on social media platforms (90 this year from last year's 16).

Online frauds rose to 18 from six last year; debit and credit card frauds increased to 61 from 29.
There were 14 cases of 'Nigerian lottery' scam, against eight in 2013.

The crime against women, however, saw a decline to 2,790 cases this year compared with 3,173 last year. However, the cases of rape showed an increase: 145 this year against 102 in 2013.
"Yes, the number of rape cases has gone up. In the last few years the graph has been on the rise. In our analysis we have a feeling that more women are coming forward and lodging complaints. We are encouraging women to come out and lodge complaints," Reddy said.

On the rise in cyber crime, he said the use of computers and IT and other digital technologies in various public domains has increased, which can explain the phenomenon.