Investment scams account for nearly 60% of Telangana cyber-fraud losses: Shikha Goel

Hyderabad: Investment and stock-market scams account for nearly 60% of financial losses suffered by cybercrime victims in Telangana, Principal Secretary Shikha Goel said.

Goel, who also heads the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau and the Telangana Forensic Science Laboratories, shared the figures at a cybersecurity symposium in Hyderabad on Tuesday. She said Telangana Cyber Police had recovered Rs. 455 crore lost to cyber fraud over the past two years.

She was speaking at “Conversation on Cybersecurity: When Trust Becomes the Weapon – The New Battle for the Human Mind”. Symposium, Hyderabad’s knowledge forum, organised the event with the Telangana State Police, Telangana Cyber Security Bureau and Cyberabad Police.

More than 200 people attended the programme at Hotel Avasa in Madhapur. Speakers warned that cybercriminals increasingly exploit human emotions and behaviour instead of relying only on technical attacks.

Goel said fraudsters first build trust and then manipulate victims into transferring money. She identified fear, greed and urgency as common tools used by organised cybercrime networks.

She said several fraud operations function from locations outside India, including Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia. These networks use multiple layers, operate across different locations and time zones, and make it difficult for investigators to trace their masterminds.

Fraud syndicates also run sophisticated call centres, she said. Their operators speak the languages of targeted victims and tailor their approaches to individual people.

Goel described cybercrime as highly organised but also preventable. She said people often fall victim because of fear, greed or lack of awareness.

“Innocence doesn’t work. If you don’t want to fall prey to cyber fraud, you have to be intelligent. Trust your intelligence. Pause, think and verify before you act,” she said.

Experts warn against AI dependence and digital manipulation

Air Vice Marshal (Dr) Devesh Vatsa, VSM, moderated the discussion. He is a Cyber Security and Critical Technologies Advisor at DSCI and a former Indian Air Force officer.

Opening the session with an analogy from the Ramayana, Vatsa described the Lakshman Rekha as the original firewall. He said the boundary represented a form of protection against threats.

“Cybercrime is nothing but greed, lust and fear,” he said. He added that criminals were increasingly turning trust into a weapon.

Vatsa also highlighted October’s observance as Cybersecurity Awareness Month. He called for sustained public awareness instead of one-time campaigns.

Supreme Court Advocate and cyber-law expert Pavan Duggal warned against excessive dependence on Artificial Intelligence. He urged people to preserve their ability to think, question information and make independent decisions.

“God has given you the ability to discern and join the dots. Use that ability. Don’t let that skill die,” Duggal said. He advised people not to rely on AI recommendations for every small decision.

He also warned that society was becoming overly dependent on AI for everyday choices. “Outsourcing all our work to Artificial Intelligence will eventually lead to the decay of the human mind,” he said.

Duggal called for clear legal principles to govern AI use and said dedicated laws on Artificial Intelligence and deepfakes were urgently needed, also referred to regulatory developments in China, South Korea, Japan, Hungary and El Salvador. He also stressed the need to hold developers and users accountable for AI-related harm.

Duggal said the Supreme Court had drafted the Regulations for Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Courts, 2026. The draft, prepared under the Supreme Court’s AI Committee, seeks responsible AI use while retaining human and judicial oversight.

He cautioned against treating AI-generated information as unquestionable truth. “We have become cognitive slaves to AI. Respect the cognitive minds of people,” he said.

Cybersecurity expert and Indian Infosec Consortium CEO Jiten Jain urged citizens to treat mobile numbers as sensitive personal information. He advised people against routinely sharing their numbers while shopping or making billing transactions.

Jain warned that fraudsters could use phone numbers to launch social-engineering attacks and identity-related fraud. “Your mobile number should be extremely personal,” he said, asking people to check why businesses collect their numbers and how they may use them.

Young cybersecurity enthusiast and ethical hacker Shubhank Singhai said criminals often target human trust rather than computer systems or bank accounts. He highlighted risks from social engineering, impersonation, cloned voices and AI-generated content.

He said many major attacks begin with a phone call, message, familiar face or voice that resembles someone close to the victim. Strong encryption and firewalls alone cannot address such threats, he added.

The symposium stressed that cybersecurity extends beyond information technology. Speakers said public awareness, human judgement and caution remain essential to preventing fraud.

The programme also unveiled public-interest cybersecurity videos and awareness materials prepared with the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau. The initiative reached nearly 2.95 lakh pensioners and more than 3 lakh serving employees across Telangana.

The organisers said the videos and simple awareness materials would offer practical guidance on preventing cybercrime. Gazetted officers associated with Symposium’s collaborations will subsequently distribute the material to reach more citizens.

Organisers also presented Shikha Goel with a paper documenting discussions and insights from the previous edition of the symposium. Symposium Managing Trustee Shruti Mallpani said the central challenge was human judgement, not technology.

She said the forum aimed to help citizens understand emerging threats and make safer decisions in the digital environment.