Cyber criminals have siphoned off nearly ₹50 crore in Kollam district over the past year, capitalising on job-search anxieties and deceptive online trading opportunities. The local cyber police have received more than 3,000 complaints during this period, managing to recover and freeze around ₹11 crore. Statewide data indicates that job fraud has particularly victimised women, with over 3,000 female victims reported across Kerala. Meanwhile, senior citizens represent a highly vulnerable demographic, accounting for 32% of all online trading scam victims in the district.

The scale of the financial damage is highlighted by several high-profile cases in the region. A resident of Kundara lost a staggering ₹1.62 crore after being lured into registering on a fraudulent trading link provided by contacts met on social media. Similarly, a woman from Tazhuthala was conned out of over ₹29 lakh through a Telegram-based task scam, while a youth from Vadakkevila lost more than ₹40 lakh in a near-identical scheme. Investigating these leads, the Kollam cyber police arrested suspects from Ernakulam and Thrissur earlier this year. Cyber criminals are increasingly relying on 'money mule' networks to channel stolen funds, prompting police warnings about rented bank accounts.
In these schemes, fraudsters rent operational bank accounts from unsuspecting individuals, offering lucrative commission rates of up to ₹2,000 for every ₹1 lakh processed. College students have become the primary targets for these syndicates. Many only discover they have been implicated in inter-state cyber fraud when financial investigative agencies freeze their accounts or when out-of-state police notices arrive at their doorsteps.
Authorities are also highlighting the severe legal repercussions of digital forgery and photo morphing under the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Creating or sharing altered digital images is a grave offence under Sections 66 and 67 of the IT Act, which deal with violations of privacy and transmitting obscene material. Furthermore, Section 336(3) of the BNS explicitly stipulates that creating a forged or digital document with the intent to cheat is a non-bailable offence. Individuals found guilty of digital manipulation face up to seven years in prison, with authorities warning that even retaining such morphed images on personal devices constitutes a punishable crime.