It takes no police statistics to understand that cyber fraud cases are on the rise in the state; such news printed in daily newspapers is enough! Every day there are new patterns of fraud that shock even the police. In the early days of the Internet and Android phones, the common man was unfamiliar with the pitfalls of cyberspace, but we have rapidly become cyber literate, and even young children have mastered them. But it's just that fraudsters are coming up with new versions of exploits a hundred times faster than we're improving our cyber-savvy. It is strange and sad that people who have enough knowledge about all this and are well aware of the scams are falling into such traps again.

Most of the cyber crimes are honeytraps that use women to set up traps, and financial scams that promise high profits quickly. Most of the 3155 cyber cases registered in the state last year fall in these two categories. It should be remembered that there has been a surge in cyber crime in eight years, from just 283 cases in 2016. Most of the victims are highly educated, high-ranking officials and businessmen who lead respectable lives in the society. Priyanka, a native of Thiruvananthapuram's Malayinkeezhu, was arrested in Kochi in a trading fraud case that is currently in the news, on the complaint of a merchant navy officer from Kozhikode. There are many cases of financial fraud against her in many districts of the state and outside the state.

It should be noted that these scams are not exploiting the instinct of the middle class to get extra wealth quickly. The scammer was offering 21 percent profit in a trading trap in the name of a non-existent company! She extorted 25 lakh rupees from a merchant navy man in Kozhikode alone. The Kochi police have just started an investigation into the organization called Trade Coopers, which led the fraud. It is believed that they may have made billions through similar scams. This woman is not alone, her mother and brother are co-accused in the cases. It was not modern technology that helped them in their planned and expert financial frauds, but only the greed of the victims of fraud!

Shouldn't we recognize the possibility of a scam when an investment is offered with interest and incredible profits that are not offered by banks, other authorized financial institutions or even private moneylenders? The fraudsters will credit the customer's account with additional income for the first small investment. Greedy people who invest extra in will get trapped. In all cases of financial fraud, the police have only one advice: do not fall into such traps for the sake of excessive financial gain. It is the tyranny of money and the rich in the society that makes even the educated to indulge in dangerous experiments.