Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday stressed the need for mass awareness to curb cyber crime and noted that children are largely falling prey to it.

The growth and influence of advanced technologies is immense in the state, but instances of frauds and crimes are also on the rise, he said.

Vijayan was speaking after inaugurating the cyber division of the Kerala police in a function here.

"The fraudsters are committing such crimes misusing the loopholes in the technology," he pointed out.

Highlighting the need to make effective interventions by police to prevent these crimes, the CM urged people, especially those who fall prey to such offences to inform the law enforcers.

"In most cases, minor children are victimised. They usually become aware of such crimes only after they got entangled in the trap (laid by the fraudsters)," he said.

Also, in many cases the parents lack awareness about how to protect their kids from online predators, the CM further said.

In such cases, law enforcers should be able to tackle the issue while making sure that the future of the child victims is not affected.

Vijayan said then only the responsibility of the police would be fulfilled, the CM said.

The CM also said a whopping Rs 201 crore had been lost through cybercrimes in the state.