As per the data from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), a division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, India suffered cyber fraud losses amounting to Rs 11,333 crore in the first nine months of 2024.
India Faces Rising Cyber Fraud Losses – Stock Trading and Investment Scams Lead the Way
With Rs 4,636 crore reported across 2,28,094 complaints, stock trading scams accounted for highest losses amongst all. Second to that are the investment related scams, which amount to Rs 3,216 crore from 1,00,360 cases, while “digital arrest” frauds led to losses of Rs 1,616 crore from 63,481 complaints.
As per the data from the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS), nearly 12 lakh cyber fraud complaints in 2024. Of these, 45% originated from Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos.
Since the very inception of this year, in year 2021, it recorded 30.05 lakh complaints, with total losses reaching Rs 27,914 crore. The yearly breakdown shows 11,31,221 complaints in 2023, 5,14,741 in 2022 and 1,35,242 in 2021.
PM Modi Addresses ‘Digital Arrest’ Frauds and Urges Vigilance Amid Rising Cybercrime
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently addressed the issue of “digital arrest” frauds during the 115th episode of his Mann Ki Baat radio programme, wherein he emphasized that no government agency contacts individuals via phone or video calls for investigations and clarified, “There is no system like digital arrest under the law.”
He later urged the citizens to remain vigilant against such scams, after Indians lost Rs 120.3 crore in digital arrest frauds in the first quarter of this year.
As per the analysis of such fraud cases, the stolen funds are often withdrawn via methods such as cheques, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), fintech crypto platforms, ATMs, merchant payments and e-wallets. The I4C has frozen approximately 4.5 lakh mule bank accounts in the past year to disrupt the laundering of cybercrime proceeds.
I4C, at an anti-terror conference, also highlighted key challenges in investigating cyber fraud cases. These included the anonymity offered by digital wallets, foreign money exchanges, insufficient KYC protocols, VPN access and cryptocurrency-related fraud originating from abroad.
As many as 17,000 WhatsApp accounts linked to cybercriminals operating out of Southeast Asia have been blocked by I4C, in collaboration with the Ministry of Telecommunications.
This move aims to disrupt offshore criminal networks, even as social engineering, deep fakes, ransomware, zero-day exploits and supply chain attacks emerge as new forms of cybercrime.
