Pune: The Pimpri Chinchwad police registered 269 cybercrime cases and arrested 215 accused, while recovering Rs24.4 crore lost to cybercrooks in 2025.Pimpri Chinchwad police commissioner Vinoy Kumar Choubey revealed the numbers to reporters while releasing the 2025 annual crime data.The commissioner said the Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police did significant work in 2025. “They recovered Rs18.5 crore of the Rs24.4 crore — the remaining amount being recouped by police stations,” he said.Choubey said the Pimpri Chinchwad police, including cyber police and police stations, arrested 215 people accused of cybercrimes. “Our team visited several cities in India and nabbed the suspects,” he said.Unfortunately, despite the arrest of criminals and recovery of money lost, people continue to fall prey to cyber criminals, he said and added: “We are conducting awareness programmes for citizens. Our cyber police team visits IT companies, schools and colleges to speak to people about cyber frauds,” he added.The commissioner said that last year, police also organised a virtual town hall on cyber awareness. “As many as 12,000 participants from schools, colleges, companies and housing societies had attended.”Report in the golden hourReporting cybercrime immediately after being duped gives police and banks the best chance to block or reverse the amount lost.An officer from the Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police said the money recovered last year was mainly because the victim reported the crime in the ‘golden hour’. “We immediately contacted the banks and stopped the transfer of money to different bank accounts,” the officer added.
