Online lottery, banking frauds, cyber stalking as well as cases of sextortion have been proving to be major challenges before the Durg Police, which has so far been unable to deal with them effectively.

The police have not only miserably failed to prevent such crimes, but it is also unable to extend the expected help to the victims of such crimes. The unpleasant situation can be gauged from the fact that in the past three years, the police was able to help only a few of the victims of the cyber frauds and hundreds are still waiting in queue for justice while also hoping that one day they will get their money back lost in financial crimes. Even the Anti Crime and Cyber Unit (ACCU) functioning in the district is not in a position to claim that it has succeeded in cracking even 30% of the cyber crimes reported in the past couple of years.

Reliable sources confirmed that in the past three years, the police claims helping around 96 victims of online fraud and recovering around Rs 38.40 lakh from the cyber criminals. Meanwhile, in stark contrast to it, the actual number of victims falling prey to cyber crimes was in hundreds while the money lost by them too was in several lakhs of rupees. Few days ago, a woman from Padmanabhpur had deposited property tax in the Durg Municipal Corporation through online mode while when she went to the municipal corporation seeking its receipt she was shocked to discover that the tax was never paid. As per police, she was made to download an application by the accused and all her money was swindled. Similarly, in another case, a girl hailing from Kasaridih in Durg had lost around Rs 96,000 after she had obtained a number from online search engine Google to get her credit card unblocked. Offences in this regard were registered by Durg Kotwali and Padmanabhpur Police. Likewise, a woman post-master posted in a sub post office in the district also recently received a call from an unknown number that her electricity bill has not been paid while when the lady officer insisted that it has been paid she was warned that her power supply will be snapped if she fails to follow his instructions. All such cases have been increasing the tally of cyber crimes and the police have failed in ensuring justice for such cyber fraud victims. Not only in urban areas like Bhilai and Durg, but the cyber crooks continue to con people in rural areas too and it should be kept in mind that several such cases of online frauds have gone unchecked as people still hesitate to approach police after being duped. On being contacted, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Crime) Nasar Siddiqui said that lack of awareness among people has been leading to such crimes. Telling about the steps initiated by police, he informed that the police has been organising awareness programme in various places so that people can be made smart enough to deal with such cases.