CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Police have restituted Rs 10.25 crore to victims of cyber fraud in the first five months of 2025. In May month alone, the GCP had restituted over Rs 2 crore.
Apart from the restitution, the city police have approached the courts and also frozen Rs 36.27 crore money in the bank accounts of cyber criminals.
According to Chennai Police, the cyber crime wing team at the city police headquarters restituted Rs 7.08 crore in 582 cases, followed by the South Zone cyber crime unit which recovered Rs 1.66 crore in 234 cases. The North Zone cyber crime unit recovered Rs 56.74 lakh in 73 cases, West Zone cyber crime unit recovered Rs 60.52 lakh in 234 cases and East Zone cyber crime unit recovered Rs 33.38 lakh in 183 cases.
In May alone, the cyber crime wing team at the city police headquarters recovered Rs 1.57 crore in 26 cases of cyber fraud.
As cases of Digital arrest are on the rise, which involves scammers calling potential targets impersonating law enforcement officers, typically from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), and the Mumbai Police among others and fabricating a scenario to instil fear and create panic in the minds of the victims, City Police have warned the public to be wary of the nefarious designs of cyber fraudsters who con people into investments promising exponential returns on their investments.
"The online part-time job scam, which lures people to make extra money on the side, starts with making people like and write Google reviews, and people end up losing lakhs. Then, there are those who lose large amounts of money through fake online trading websites," a police official said.
GCP Commissioner A Arun has cautioned the public to be careful and advised people not to transfer money to unknown bank accounts. For online financial fraud, immediately report to the cybercrime helpline 1930 or the national cybercrime reporting portal www.cybercrime.gov.in.