Friday, 24 Oct, 2025
Source: Freepik
As India’s digital footprint expands at record speed, the shadow of cybercrime grows deeper. The latest NCRB data reveals a sharp 39% rise in cyber offences across major cities, exposing how digital inclusion is now intertwined with digital insecurity.
A 74-year-old retired central government employee from Rajarhat, Kolkata, spent three harrowing days in a New Town hotel, convinced he was under “digital arrest.” On video calls, men impersonating Bengaluru and Karnataka Police officers accused him of serious crimes such as online harassment and human trafficking, coercing him into transferring over ₹1 crore to “secure his release.”
Weeks later, Gujarat Police arrested three Ahmedabad residents, who had allegedly extorted ₹11.4 crore through similar scams. The gang posed as central agency officials, intimidating victims over WhatsApp calls and draining their bank accounts.
These cases expose the darker side of India’s digital transformation. As citizens embrace online services, cybercriminals are exploiting the same tools to commit sophisticated frauds.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2023, India recorded 86,420 cybercrime cases in 2023, a 31.2% rise from 2022 (65,893 cases). By comparison, murder cases fell by 2.8%, showing how digital offences are rapidly outpacing traditional crimes.
In 19 major cities, cyber offences rose 39%, from 24,420 in 2022 to nearly 34,000 in 2023. Bengaluru alone accounted for more than half of all cybercrime cases in metros, cementing its position as India’s “cybercrime capital.”
Karnataka’s figures reflect this surge. Complaints jumped from 20,894 in 2022 to 97,929 in 2024, while financial losses multiplied nearly twenty times, from ₹113 crore in 2022 to ₹2,396 crore in 2024. Bengaluru alone registered 12,356 cyber offences in the first eight months of 2024, with reported losses exceeding ₹1,242 crore.
A report titled “The State of AI-Powered Cybercrime: Threat & Mitigation Report 2025”, released by GIREM and Tekion, outlines how artificial intelligence is transforming the cybercrime landscape.
AI tools now power nearly 80% of phishing campaigns, enabling fraudsters to generate convincing deepfakes, clone websites and mimic official communications. The report estimates that ₹22,812 crore ($2.78 billion) was lost to digital frauds in 2024 alone, much of it linked to police impersonation, fake regulatory notices and AI-assisted scams.
India recorded 1.91 million cybercrime complaints in 2024, up from 1.55 million in 2023, marking a tenfold jump since 2019. Financial losses, especially from online fraud, have tripled in a year. ‘Digital arrest’ scams alone cost victims ₹1,936 crore in 2024, while total cyber fraud losses over the past four years have crossed ₹33,000 crore.
What was once viewed as an urban concern has now spread deep into small-town India. Government data shows a 900% rise in cyber fraud over four years, with Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities emerging as new hotspots.
Between 2021 and 2024, Indians lost ₹33,165 crore to cybercrime. Complaints to the National Cybercrime Reporting Platform (NCRP) climbed from 1.37 lakh in 2021 to 17.10 lakh in 2024.
A “suspect registry” under the Ministry of Home Affairs now tracks 1.4 million individuals linked to online fraud. New cybercrime centres include Deoghar (Jharkhand), Nuh (Haryana), Mathura and Gautam Buddha Nagar (Uttar Pradesh), Nalanda and Nawada (Bihar), Surat (Gujarat), Kozhikode (Kerala), and Kolkata (West Bengal).
The spread of scams into India’s hinterland highlights how first-time internet users, drawn by the promise of digital inclusion, are increasingly becoming targets.
India’s cyberspace has never been more active. Over 86% of households are now connected to the internet, reflecting the country’s rapid digital transformation. But as the number of connected citizens grows, so does the surface area for crime.
Cybersecurity incidents jumped from 10.29 lakh in 2022 to 22.68 lakh in 2024, a sharp rise that underscores the scale of digital threats. The Union Budget 2025–26 earmarked ₹782 crore for cybersecurity projects, signalling the government’s heightened focus on this challenge.
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal have been set up to improve national coordination, while initiatives such as the 1930 helpline and the blocking of 9.42 lakh SIM cards and 2.63 lakh IMEIs linked to fraud are part of ongoing efforts to strengthen defences.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “a Digital India where cybersecurity becomes an integral part of national security” is now being tested as the scale and sophistication of online scams continue to rise.
India today stands at the intersection of digital empowerment and digital vulnerability. The surge in cyber fraud — from AI-generated phishing to video-call “digital arrests” — underlines the urgent need to pair innovation with awareness.
The government’s efforts through I4C, NCRP and targeted interventions mark progress, but public vigilance remains equally crucial. As millions of new users come online each year, India’s digital future will depend not only on technological growth but also on collective responsibility to secure it.
