Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: Goa registered fewer economic offences in 2023 than in the previous year, but official figures reveal a worrying surge in high-value frauds and scams.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 155 cases of economic offences were filed in 2023, a steep fall from 260 in 2022, though higher than the 131 cases recorded in 2021. With Goa’s population estimated at 15.8 lakh, the rate of such crimes stood at 9.8 per lakh.
While the overall number of cases dipped, cheating, forgery and fraud accounted for the bulk, with 126 cases, followed by 28 of criminal breach of trust and one of counterfeiting.
Data shows that most breach of trust cases involved relatively small sums, but fraud and cheating cases increasingly featured higher stakes. At least 10 cases involved losses of ₹50 lakh to ₹1 crore, eight between ₹1 crore and ₹10 crore, and two between ₹10 crore and ₹25 crore.
“Large-scale frauds are emerging more often. These cases are highly complex and demand specialised investigation,” a senior police officer said, underlining the challenge for law enforcement.
Police figures also reveal that in 2023 they dealt with 449 economic offence cases in total — 294 pending from previous years and 155 fresh. The charge-sheeting rate was 41.3 per cent.
