Cyber crimes in Gujarat jump over 40 pc in 2023 as compared to 2022: NCRB

Ahmedabad, Sep 30 (PTI) Cyber crimes in Gujarat have registered a significant rise of 40.79 per cent in 2023 as 1,995 cases were registered in the year as compared to 1,417 in 2022, the data in the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) showed.

While such cases saw a jump of 31 per cent across the country as compared to 2022, Gujarat reported an increase of over 40 per cent.

Of the 1,995 cases registered in 2023, the maximum number of 1,034 cases were about "cheating" under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The NCRB report said 254 were related to "identity theft" punishable under section 66C of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 258 cases were about publication of obscene or sexually explicit material in electronic form.

In 10 cases, the accused were booked under section 67B of the IT Act for publishing and transmitting material depicting children in sexually explicit acts, the data showed.

In 2023, the Gujarat police had registered 43 cases of cyber stalking or bullying of women or children under section 354D of the IPC.

Other cyber crimes which were reported in 2023 included cyber blackmailing (37), ATM related fraud (10), online banking fraud (49), OTP fraud (7), data theft (8) and credit or debit card related fraud (9).

As per the data, defrauding unsuspecting victims was a primary motive of cyber criminals in 1,187 cases, followed by causing disrepute (387), extortion (183) and sexual exploitation being the motive for the crimes in 84 cases.

In two cases, the motive was "terrorist activities" while in as many other cases, the motive was to disrupt public service.

While one case was about personal revenge, doing a prank on someone was the motive in five other cases in 2023. PTI PJT PD NP