PRAYAGRAJ, Oct. 6 -- A student preparing for competitive examinations committed suicide by hanging herself in the Govindpur area under Shivkuti police station in June this year. The girl took the extreme step allegedly after being duped of Rs.71,000 by cyber fraudsters. Cyber criminals threatened a young woman from Ghaus Nagar, Kareli, and defrauded her of Rs.57,000 last month. According to the woman's complaint, she received a call from an unknown number. The accused threatened her, saying he would create pornographic videos of her and post them on social media if she did not pay. He then sent a QR code to her mobile phone and demanded money. Upset by the threats, she transferred Rs.57,000. A case was later lodged at the cyber police station on her complaint. In another case, cyber tricksters duped a woman of Rs.55 lakh under the pretext of investment for profit. The woman, a resident of Transport Nagar in Prayagraj, lodged an FIR stating that on November 29, 2024, she was added to a WhatsApp group that allegedly included Krishna Iyer, executive director of Angel One Company, and his assistant Mini Nair. In the group, Mini Nair shared information about investment schemes and advised buying shares. Another person, Ajit, introduced as the customer service manager of the company, first got an app installed on her mobile. The victim was duped of Rs.55 lakh through the app in installments. These are just a few examples of cyber tricksters targeting women with ease in Sangam City. To counter this and protect women and their family members from fraudsters, for the first time under Mission Shakti 5.0, awareness against cyber crime is being raised by the police to safeguard citizens from such nefarious acts. According to deputy commissioner of police (Trans Ganga) Kuldeep Singh Gunawat, who is also the nodal officer of the Cyber Cell, Prayagraj, women are proving to be easy targets for cyber tricksters, who use a range of frauds-such as promising high returns in the share market, digital arrests and lucrative business offers-to trap them. He said each of the 43 police stations in the district now has a cyber help desk, where people duped by cyber fraudsters can register their complaints. These cyber-trained police personnel, under Mission Shakti, are conducting awareness programmes in various colleges, schools, and public spaces to educate the public about the do's and don'ts of the cyber world. "These tricksters constantly change their methods. They impersonate government officials, threaten digital arrest, or falsely claim that someone's family members will be jailed-pressuring victims to pay money in exchange for their release. Currently, investigations are underway for a total of 80 cases at the cyber police station, including cases from previous years," he added. Records from the cyber police station reveal that in the past nine months-between January 1 and September 30, 2025-a total of 48 cyber crime cases were registered in the district, 11 of which involved women victims. Of the total cases, the highest number-14-were related to share trading frauds, followed by 12 cases involving lucrative offers for instant profits, and 8 cases of blackmailing. Additionally, 2 cases of digital arrest and 1 case of cyber slavery were reported during this period. Roughly, cyber fraudsters managed to dupe city residents of around Rs.3 crore in just nine months....