Hyderabad: While releasing the Hyderabad City Police Annual Report- 2024, city police commissioner CV Anand opined that certain bankers were working hand-in-glove with cyber criminals. He made the statement after a manager and vice president of Axis Bank and the deputy manager of RBL bank were arrested for helping cyber criminals.

He said that in 2025, the focus will be on the loopholes in the banking system and the involvement of bankers in cyber fraud.

“Without the banking system, cybercrime cannot operate. There are different layers of bank accounts the cyber fraudsters use to siphon the stolen amount,” the Hyderabad police commissioner noted.

He said that in many cybercrime cases, a definite pattern was observed where current accounts are opened easily without field verification by banks.

He also stated that the ease of doing business has created a situation where licenses were being given to businesses liberally by the labour department officials, which also needed to be checked.

The Hyderabad police commissioner mentioned that another challenge the department has been facing is the arrest of cyber criminals operating in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The investigation has been hindered due to a lack of cooperation from locals and even local police, with some instances involving attacks on Telangana police officers.

Despite the challenges, around 500 cyber criminals have been arrested this year.

In 2025, the senior police officer said that the cyber crime police, in coordination with the cyber security bureau and the national portal for cybercrime will work with an iron fist.

The most pressing of the 34 types of cyber crime offences that have been identified by the police is digital arrest, the cases of which have been increasing manifold, and the amount lost by the victims has been going into crores.

He said that despite many awareness programmes conducted by the department, people were still falling prey to cyber crimes, and many of them were not even reporting the cases, fearing losing their pride.

The citizens living in Hyderabad have lost over Rs 300 crore in 2024, as against Rs 147 crore last year, witnessing a significant increase in the amount lost, he noted.

The percentage of detection of cases has slightly improved from 9.58 per cent in 2023 to 12.68 per cent in 2024.

A total of Rs 77.60 crore has been frozen in the bank accounts in different layers used by the fraudsters, and almost Rs 40 crore has been refunded to the victims in 2024.

A total of 4042 cases have been registered in Hyderabad city, with the most preferred methods being adopted by criminals being customs fraud, investment fraud, trading fraud, OTP fraud, online fraud, social media, customer care, and job fraud among others.