Cyber fraud in Telangana is increasingly driven by deception rather than hacking, with stock-trading scams accounting for nearly 60% of victims’ losses, while international organised networks and AI tools amplify the threat landscape, prompting calls for heightened vigilance among citizens.
Cyber fraud in Telangana is increasingly being driven by deception rather than brute-force hacking, with stock-trading and investment scams accounting for nearly 60% of victims’ losses, according to Shikha Goel, the principal secretary for home and director of the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau. Speaking at a cybersecurity symposium in Madhapur on Tuesday, Goel said authorities had recovered ₹455 crore from cyber fraudsters over the past two years, but warned that the scale and sophistication of the schemes continue to grow.
Goel said organised criminal networks are exploiting trust, fear and greed, often persuading victims to hand over money or personal information without ever needing to breach a device directly. That warning echoes wider cybercrime trends seen in other cases involving social engineering, such as the Lapsus$ hacking group, which used phone-based manipulation and SIM-swapping rather than traditional technical attacks to infiltrate major firms. The lesson, Goel suggested, is that the human element remains the easiest entry point for fraudsters. The Hindu has previously reported that some of the most damaging cybercrime operations rely on persuasion, not code.
According to Goel, many of these networks are now operating across borders, with hubs in countries including Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia, and with call-centre style teams trained to speak the languages of their intended targets. That international spread makes investigations harder, particularly when the people directing the fraud are insulated by layers of intermediaries and time zones. Similar global coordination has been central to other major financial crime scandals covered by The Hindu, including the 1MDB affair, which showed how money can move through multiple jurisdictions before authorities close in.
The symposium also focused on how artificial intelligence is changing the threat landscape. Cyber-law expert Pavan Duggal warned against over-reliance on AI in everyday decision-making, arguing that the habit of outsourcing judgement can weaken independent thinking over time. Cybersecurity expert Jiten Jain urged people to treat mobile numbers as sensitive data rather than casually handing them over at shops and billing counters, saying such details can be used to build identity profiles and launch social-engineering attacks. The caution is especially relevant as fraudsters increasingly combine AI tools with personal information harvested from ordinary transactions.
Organisers said the event, titled “When Trust Becomes the Weapon – The New Battle for the Human Mind”, was designed to push citizens to verify requests before acting and to pause whenever money or personal data is involved. The Telangana Cyber Security Bureau has also been expanding awareness campaigns, including videos and training material that organisers said have reached nearly 2.95 lakh pensioners and more than three lakh serving employees across the state. In Goel’s telling, the most effective defence is still simple: stop, think and confirm before responding.
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