Chandigarh, Jun 26 (PTI) Punjab Police has frozen 63,749 bank accounts linked to cyber fraud involving transactions worth over Rs 540 crore and recovered nearly Rs 64 crore for victims since 2025, a top official said on Friday.
The Cyber Crime Division intensified its action against cybercriminals over the past year by tracking fraudulent transactions, freezing suspect accounts and facilitating the return of stolen money to victims, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said.
According to official figures, accounts linked to cyber fraud involving around Rs 540.34 crore were frozen last year.
Of the recovered amount, Rs 38.42 crore was returned to victims after January 1, 2025. During the same period, 62,253 cybercrime cases were registered across Punjab.
Yadav said the timely freezing of bank accounts helped prevent fraudsters from withdrawing money and increased the chances of recovering victims’ funds.
Investigations exposed organised cybercrime networks, their financial trails and inter-state connections, he said.
The percentage of fraud proceeds successfully frozen rose from 16.13 per cent to 23.43 per cent in the last financial year, indicating an improvement in financial recovery efforts, he said.
Among districts, Jalandhar Commissionerate recorded the highest number of frozen accounts at 16,032 and recovered over Rs 6.81 crore.
Kapurthala froze 7,344 accounts and recovered Rs 2.56 crore, while Hoshiarpur froze 7,201 accounts and recovered Rs 3.96 crore.
Tarn Taran recovered nearly Rs 6.98 crore after freezing 5,229 accounts.
Highlighting a recent case, the DGP said the Cyber Crime Division cracked an extortion racket targeting a Punjabi resident living in Canada.
The victim was contacted on social media in the name of online prayer services and later blackmailed using a video shared with the accused, he said.
Police arrested three people in the case and recovered Rs 3.49 lakh, USD 500, 29 mobile phones, a laptop, a tablet and other electronic items.
Special DGP (Cyber Crime) V Neeraja said Punjab Police was following a two-pronged strategy of strict enforcement and public awareness to tackle cybercrime.
She said the department was also educating citizens, especially the youth, about threats such as cyberbullying, sextortion, fake online friendships and online grooming.
As part of its awareness drive, the Cyber Crime Division organised 129 programmes across Punjab during the period, while district units also conducted several outreach campaigns to educate people about online fraud and cyber safety. PTI VSD DIV DIV
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