Hyderabad: The majority of cybercriminals arrested by the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) in cybercrime cases reported are highly educated, with some having MBA, MCA, and BTech degrees. While 45% of the cyber criminals arrested fall under this category, 49% of the total arrested persons are in the age group of 21 to 30, according to the bureau.
In the past six months, the bureau has arrested 165 cyber criminals from across the country who were involved in 795 cases in Telangana and 3,357 cases across the country. These persons were arrested from various regions of AP, Assam, New Delhi, Gujarat, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and West Bengal.
“Most of them were arrested under extremely challenging conditions such as the social, demographic, and geographical conditions, including the threat of mob attacks and non-cooperation from the local police in a few cases,” said Cyber Security Bureau director Shikha Goel.
The arrested persons were involved in various types of cybercrimes like part-time job frauds, business investment (stock trading) frauds, digital arrests, loan frauds, cyber slavery, hacking, advertisement frauds, impersonation, matrimonial fraud, and sextortion. They include mule account holders, bank account suppliers, account operators, SIM suppliers, bank officials, travel agents, and hackers, added a bureau official.
Further analysis of the accused shows that 20% completed Intermediate and 35% of them are below SSC and illiterates. It was also found that 34% of them are into businesses like hotels, restaurants, and real estate. About 21% of them are self-employed like digital content creators, cab drivers, gym trainers, event managers, RMP doctors, while 14% are into private jobs like working at petrol pumps, garment shops, toll plazas, and delivery services.
The accused also include 14% unemployed, 9% students, and 5% of them are farmers and labourers. Surprisingly, 3% of the accused are govt employees like assistants in irrigation and electricity departments. The main motive for these fraudsters was to earn easy money, debts, and the influence of a third person, added the official.
