KATHMANDU, Nov 18: People of the age group of 19 to 30 comprise about 70 percent of the individuals suspected to be involved in cyber frauds, according to a report prepared by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).
The Strategic Analysis Report (SAR), 2024, released by the central bank on Sunday revealed that a majority of the individuals suspected of cyber frauds were from the same age group.
The central bank’s report was based on the Suspected Transaction Report/Suspected Activity Report (STR/SAR) filed at various police units across the country in 2023.
Cyber risk
The NRB studied 151 STR/SARs to prepare the report. According to the analysis of the central bank, around 49 percent of the individuals suspected to be involved in cyber frauds belong to the age group of 19-24 years followed by around 21 percent of suspects of age group 25-30 years. In total, 70% of the individuals suspected of cyber frauds were of the age group 19-30 years.
According to the spokesperson for Nepal Police, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Dan Bahadur Karki, the high proportion of involvement of the 19-30 years age group in the cases of cyber enabled crimes is because of the higher internet activity of the younger generation and their mentality of earning ‘fast-cash’ with the intent of ‘lavish-spending’.
“The older generations do not use the internet as actively as the younger generation does and the age group of 19-35 years have more internet-friendly lifestyles,” Karki told Republica, “In addition, the youths have also been influenced by the internet to earn ‘fast cash’ and spend it lavishly.”
The NRB report has revealed that the occupation of ‘student’ comprised the largest number of accounts that were reported for cyber fraud, followed by ‘employees’ of various organizations. Similarly, other significant occupations mentioned in accounts reported for such fraud were ‘farmer’, ‘proprietor’, ‘vegetable and fruit shop owners, ‘housewife’, and ‘unemployed’.
Among the 151 STR/SARs in the sample, occupation was mentioned in Know Your Customer (KYC) form of 138 suspected individuals. Of these 138 suspected individuals, 44 were students, 27 were employees of various organizations, 16 each were farmers and proprietors of various firms, nine were vegetable or fruit shop owners, seven were housewives, and six were unemployed.
DIG Karki informed Republica that the police have already identified the student group as the most susceptible to committing cyber fraud since they largely comprise the 19-35 age group. He added that the police have been running a number of awareness programs under the community-police partnership program with focus on raising awareness about cyber enabled crimes in the college community.
“In addition to the colleges, we have also been running awareness programs at corporate houses, NGOs, INGOs and various rights activists groups to create awareness among the general public,” Karki said.
