Saturday, 05 Sep, 2026
Financial fraud emerged as by far the most prominent form of cybercrime. Nearly three out of every four cybercrime cases registered in 2024 were related to fraud, with 73,987 cases, or 72.6 percent of the total, involving financial deception. Image Source: IANS
According to the NCRB report, India recorded 1,01,928 cybercrime cases in 2024, marking a 17.9 percent increase over the 86,420 cases registered in 2023.
Delhi Police has busted a multi-state cyber fraud network and arrested six people allegedly involved in routing money cheated from victims through a web of mule bank accounts and shell firms, officials said on Friday.
Police said the arrests, including that of the alleged main handler of the network, have helped uncover a wider racket linked to 89 complaints involving fraud of approximately Rs 83.23 crore across several states.
The investigation began following an FIR registered at Dwarka North police station, after police detected a suspicious bank account through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. The account had allegedly received money linked to cyber fraud complaints registered in Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, prompting investigators to trace the flow of funds and identify those operating the network.
According to police, the accused allegedly recruited unsuspecting individuals by offering them jobs or promising salary payments and used their details to open bank accounts. These accounts were subsequently converted into mule accounts and used to receive, transfer and rotate money obtained through cyber fraud, making it difficult for investigators to immediately identify the ultimate beneficiaries.
As the investigation progressed, police found that the network had connections to multiple bank accounts and firms that were allegedly being used to layer and move the cheated funds. A total of 89 complaints from different parts of the country were found to be linked to the racket, involving fraudulent transactions worth around Rs 83.23 crore.
Investigators are also probing a possible cryptocurrency angle, as they suspect that digital assets may have been used to move or conceal part of the proceeds of the alleged fraud.
India’s rapidly expanding digital economy is facing an increasingly serious cybercrime challenge, with the latest “Crime in India 2024” report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) pointing to a sharp rise in cyber offences across the country. The figures highlight growing vulnerabilities for citizens, financial institutions and law enforcement agencies as criminals increasingly exploit digital platforms and financial technologies.
Source: NCRB Report 2024
According to the NCRB report, India recorded 1,01,928 cybercrime cases in 2024, marking a 17.9 percent increase over the 86,420 cases registered in 2023. The cybercrime rate also climbed from 6.2 to 7.3 during the year, indicating the expanding scale of digital threats as more economic and social activity shifts online.
Financial fraud emerged as by far the most prominent form of cybercrime. Nearly three out of every four cybercrime cases registered in 2024 were related to fraud, with 73,987 cases, or 72.6 percent of the total, involving financial deception. These included online scams, phishing attacks and fraudulent digital payment transactions. Other major categories included sexual exploitation, which accounted for 3,190 cases, and cyber offences involving extortion, with 2,536 cases. The figures underline the increasingly diverse ways in which criminals are using technology to target victims financially as well as psychologically.
Against this backdrop, the Centre has stepped up efforts to disrupt organised cybercrime networks and strengthen the country's digital financial security architecture. In a significant move, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) to tackle the growing problem of “mule accounts”.
Mule accounts are bank accounts that are controlled or misused by cybercriminals to receive, transfer and conceal money obtained through fraud. They have emerged as a major obstacle for investigators because they enable criminals to create multiple layers between the original victim and the ultimate beneficiary of the stolen funds.
Under the new collaboration, the I4C’s Suspect Registry will be integrated with AI-based fraud detection systems used by banks. The objective is to allow financial institutions to identify suspicious accounts and transaction patterns more quickly and intervene before fraudulent funds can be moved through complex networks.
The initiative is also expected to strengthen the use of advanced analytical tools, including MuleHunter, which is being deployed across the banking ecosystem to identify patterns associated with mule accounts and uncover potentially fraudulent financial activity. Officials said the partnership would improve intelligence sharing, analytical capabilities and coordination between banks and law enforcement agencies.
The government’s crackdown has already resulted in significant enforcement action. Till December 2025, authorities had cancelled nearly 12 lakh SIM cards, blocked the IMEI numbers of more than three lakh mobile phones and arrested over 20,853 people allegedly linked to cyber offences. These measures form part of a broader strategy aimed at disrupting cybercrime networks at multiple points, from telecommunications infrastructure to financial channels.
Shah said India's cybercrime response is being built around several key pillars, including real-time reporting of cyber offences, stronger forensic capabilities, capacity building, research and development, public awareness and improved cyber hygiene. He also underlined the importance of agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in dealing with cybercrimes that involve international networks and cross-border linkages.
Despite these measures, significant challenges remain. One of the biggest concerns is the handling and preservation of digital evidence, which can determine whether a cybercrime investigation ultimately leads to a successful prosecution. Shah pointed to weaknesses in maintaining the chain of custody of digital evidence as a major factor that can undermine cases and allow sophisticated offenders to evade conviction.
The Home Minister warned that the rapid growth of cyber fraud could have developed into a much larger national crisis without timely intervention. He called for closer coordination among banks, telecom operators, investigative agencies and citizens, while stressing the need for faster responses to reported fraud, wider public awareness and more effective functioning of the national cybercrime helpline 1930.
As India continues to expand its digital payments ecosystem and online economy, the rise in cybercrime presents a challenge that extends well beyond policing. The NCRB figures underline how quickly criminals are adapting to technological change and exploiting gaps in digital and financial systems. For India, the task is therefore not merely to track down cybercriminals after an offence has occurred, but to build a stronger preventive architecture capable of detecting threats early, disrupting illicit financial networks and protecting citizens in an increasingly connected economy.
