2024: When cybercrimes came closer home; 2025: awareness, alertness critical

In one of the most shocking and biggest cyber frauds ever registered with Pune city police this year, a 59-year-old senior IT professional was duped of Rs 6.29 crore by online scammers posing as CBI officers in November. Placing the victim under purported “digital arrest” for his role in a money laundering case, the cyber criminals forced him to be on a video call for several hours, claiming “surveillance”, and asked him to transfer his funds to multiple “RBI accounts” for “verification”.