Dikhyaa Mohanty 
According to the statistics of Odisha Police, the number of cybercrime cases saw a huge spike from 385 in 2015 to 2,037 in 2021, a whopping increase of 492%, indicating the vulnerability of people to such offences during the period.
According to the reports, Police sources stated that cases where unidentified cyber crooks defrauded victims through fake KYC-related calls by impersonating banks or insurance companies, offering them high returns through different schemes, online trading and installation of mobile towers, constitute the bulk of cybercrimes in Odisha. In most cases, the scammers targeted senior citizens or those who do not use technology, despite being educated.
Experts said the police are faced with several obstacles while investigating cybercrimes. “The biggest hurdle is the anonymity of cyber criminals and it is not restricted by jurisdictional boundaries. Collection of evidence against the perpetrators becomes really challenging. They use pre-activated SIM cards purchased in the names of other persons. They use anonymous proxy servers, hide user identity data by masking their IP address and substituting it with a different IP address,” said IT expert and cybercrime analyst Prashant Sahu.
Sahu said cybercrime detection is difficult as the criminals belong to other states and keep changing their locations. “Of late, the Mewat region of Haryana has emerged as a hotspot of cybercrimes in the country. They operate in gangs and get the support of the local strongmen and some corrupt policemen. When cops from other states visit Mewat for investigation, the criminals get tipped off by a handful of corrupt local police personnel,” Sahu said.
