Parliament Question: Cyber Fraud Cases in Karnataka and Bengaluru

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2645 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 16TH DECEMBER, 2025/ AGRAHAYANA 25, 1947 (SAKA) CYBER FRAUD CASES IN KARNATAKA AND BENGALURU 2645. SHRI P C MOHAN: Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state: (a) the number of cyber fraud cases reported in the country during the last three years, along with the figures for Karnataka and Bengaluru separately; (b) the major types of cyber frauds being reported, such as UPI scams, online shopping frauds and identity theft; (c) the steps taken by the Government to prevent and track cyber crimes, including the role of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the cyber helpline 1930; (d) the awareness campaigns and training programmes being carried out to educate citizens in the country and specifically in Karnataka and Bengaluru about online safety; and (e) the punishments and legal actions prescribed under the Information Technology Act and related laws against those involved in cyber frauds? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI BANDI SANJAY KUMAR) (a) to (e): The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles and publishes the statistical data on crimes in its publication “Crime in India”. The latest published report is for the year 2023. As per the data published by the NCRB, State/UT-wise (including Karnataka) cases registered under-2- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2645 FOR 16.12.2025 Fraud for Cyber Crimes (involving communication devices as medium/target) and Crime Head-wise cases registered under Cyber Crimes (involving communication devices as medium/target) in Bengaluru during the period from 2021 to 2023 are at the Annexure-I& II respectively. Crime Head-wise cases registered under Cyber Crimes (involving communication devices as medium/target) during 2023 is at Annexure-III. ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. The States/UTs are primarily responsible for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crimes including cyber crime through their Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs). The Central Government supplements the initiatives of the States/UTs through advisories and financial assistance under various schemes for capacity building of their LEAs. To strengthen the mechanism to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, the Central Government has taken steps which, inter-alia, include the following: i. The Ministry of Home Affairs has set up the ‘Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’ (I4C) as an attached office to deal with all types-3- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2645 FOR 16.12.2025 of cyber crimes in the country, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner. ii. The ‘National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal’ (NCRP) (https://cybercrime.gov.in) has been launched, as a part of the I4C, to enable public to report incidents pertaining to all types of cyber crimes, with special focus on cyber crimes against women and children. Cyber crime incidents reported on this portal, their conversion into FIRs and subsequent action thereon are handled by the State/UT Law Enforcement Agencies concerned as per the provisions of the law. iii. The ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’ (CFCFRMS), under I4C, has been launched in year 2021 for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters. Till 31.10.2025, financial amount of more than Rs. 7,130 Crore has been saved in more than 23.02 lakh complaints. A toll-free Helpline number ‘1930’ has been operationalized to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints. iv. A State of the Art, Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC) has been established at I4C where representatives of major banks, Financial Intermediaries, Payment Aggregators, Telecom Service Providers, IT Intermediaries and representatives of States/UTs Law Enforcement-4- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2645 FOR 16.12.2025 Agency are working together for immediate action and seamless cooperation to tackle cybercrime. v. Till 31.10.2025, more than 11.14 lakhs SIM cards and 2.96 lakhs IMEIs as reported by Police authorities have been blocked by Government of India. vi. Seven Joint Cyber Coordination Teams (JCCTs) have been constituted for Mewat, Jamtara, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Vishakhapatnam, and Guwahati under I4C covering the whole country based upon cyber crime hotspots/ areas having multi jurisdictional issues by on boarding States/UTs to enhance the coordination framework among the Law Enforcement Agencies of the States/UTs. vii. I4C, MHA is regularly organising ‘State Connect’, ‘Thana Connect’ and Peer learning session to share best practices, enhance capacity building, etc. viii. The state of the art ‘National Cyber Forensic Laboratory (Investigation)’ has been established, as a part of the I4C, at New Delhi (on 18.02.2019) and at Assam (on 29.08.2025) to provide early stage cyber forensic assistance to Investigating Officers (IOs) of State/UT Police. So far, National Cyber Forensics Laboratory (Investigation), New Delhi has provided its services to State/UT LEAs in around 12,952 cases pertaining to cyber crimes.-5- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2645 FOR 16.12.2025 ix. ‘Sahyog’ Portal has been launched to expedite the process of sending notices to IT intermediaries by the Appropriate Government or its agency under clause (b) of sub-section (3) of section 79 of the IT Act, 2000 to facilitate the removal or disabling of access to any information, data or communication link being used to commit an unlawful act. x. A Suspect Registry of identifiers of cyber criminals has been launched by I4C on 10.09.2024 in collaboration with Banks/Financial Institutions. Till 31.10.2025, more than 18.43 lakh suspect identifier data received from Banks and 24.67 lakh Layer 1 mule accounts have been shared with the participating entities of Suspect Registry and declined transactions worth Rs. 8031.56 crores. xi. Samanvaya Platform has been made operational to serve as an Management Information System(MIS) platform, data repository and a coordination platform for LEAs for cybercrime data sharing and analytics. It provides analytics based interstate linkages of crimes and criminals, involved in cybercrime complaints in various States/UTs. The module ‘Pratibimb’ maps locations of criminals and crime infrastructure on a map to give visibility to jurisdictional officers. The module also facilitates seeking and receiving of techno-legal assistance by Law Enforcement Agencies from I4C and other SMEs. It-6- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2645 FOR 16.12.2025 has lead to arrest of 16,840 accused and 1,05,129 Cyber Investigation assistance request. xii. The Central Government has taken various initiatives to create cyber crime awareness which, inter-alia, include:- 1) The Hon'ble Prime Minister spoke about digital arrests during the episode "Mann Ki Baat" on 27.10.2024 and apprised the citizens of India. 2) A special programme was organized by Aakashvani, New Delhi on Digital Arrest on 28.10.2024. 3) Caller Tune Campaign: I4C is collaboration with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched a caller tune campaign with effect from 19.12.2024 for raising awareness about cybercrime and promoting the Cybercrime Helpline Number 1930 & NCRP portal. The caller tunes were also being broadcast in English, Hindi and 10 regional languages by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). Six versions of caller tunes were played which cover various modus-operandi, namely, Digital Arrest, Investment Scam, Malware, Fake Loan App, Fake Social Media Advertisements. 4) The Central Government has launched a comprehensive awareness programme on digital arrest scams which, inter-alia,-7- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2645 FOR 16.12.2025 include; newspaper advertisement, announcement in Delhi Metros, use of social media influencers to create special posts, campaign through Prasar Bharti and electronic media, special programme on Aakashvani. 5) In partnership with DD News, I4C conducted a cybercrime awareness campaign running through Weekly Show Cyber-Alert starting from 19th July 2025 for 52 Weeks. 6) To further spread awareness on cyber crime, the Central Government has taken steps which, inter-alia, include; dissemination of messages through SMS, I4C social media account i.e. X (formerly Twitter) (@CyberDost), Facebook(CyberDostI4C), Instagram (CyberDostI4C), Telegram(cyberdosti4c), SMS campaign, TV campaign, Radio campaign, School Campaign, advertisement in cinema halls, celebrity endorsement, IPL campaign, campaign during Kumbh Mela 2025& Suraj Kund Mela 2025, engaged MyGov for publicity in multiple mediums, organizing Cyber Safety and Security Awareness weeks in association with States/UTs, publishing of Handbook for Adolescents/Students, digital displays on railway stations and airports across, etc.-8- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2645 FOR 16.12.2025 There are 18 sections under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) which cover various forms of cyber offences, out of which 6 offences are non-bailable and 12 offences are bailable. Details of all the offences under the IT Act along with their penal consequences are at Annexure-IV. *****-9- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2645 FOR 16.12.2025 ANNEXURE-I State/UT-wise Cases Registered under Fraud for Cyber Crimes during 2021-2023 SL State/UT 2021 2022 2023 1 Andhra Pradesh 952 984 909 2 Arunachal Pradesh 2 0 0 3 Assam 82 16 0 4 Bihar 1373 1441 2611 5 Chhattisgarh 67 42 29 6 Goa 1 11 0 7 Gujarat 208 108 112 8 Haryana 52 44 11 9 Himachal Pradesh 6 9 7 10 Jharkhand 79 98 43 11 Karnataka 6 0 0 12 Kerala 16 26 117 13 Madhya Pradesh 89 180 91 14 Maharashtra 1678 2202 2075 15 Manipur 0 0 0 16 Meghalaya 0 0 0 17 Mizoram 0 0 0 18 Nagaland 0 0 0 19 Odisha 1205 957 1362 20 Punjab 29 61 25 21 Rajasthan 371 292 84 22 Sikkim 0 0 0 23 Tamil Nadu 107 251 887 24 Telangana 7003 9581 10626 25 Tripura 0 0 0 26 Uttar Pradesh 614 766 287 27 Uttarakhand 0 31 18 28 West Bengal 40 30 7 TOTAL STATE(S) 13980 17130 19301 29 A&N Islands 0 0 0 30 Chandigarh 0 2 0 31 D&N Haveli and Daman & Diu 0 0 0 32 Delhi 19 331 163 33 Jammu & Kashmir 8 7 2 34 Ladakh 0 0 0 35 Lakshadweep 0 0 0 36 Puducherry 0 0 0 TOTAL UT(S) 27 340 165 TOTAL (ALL INDIA) 14007 17470 19466 Source: ‘Crime in India’ published by NCRB.-10- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2645 FOR 16.12.2025 ANNEXURE-II Crime Head-wise Cases Registered under Cyber Crimes in Bengaluru During 2021-2023 SL Crime Heads 2021 2022 2023 Tampering computer source 1 documents 4 4 4 2 Computer Related Offences 6247 9501 17122 3 Cyber Terrorism 1 1 1 Publication/transmission of obscene / 4 sexually explicit act in electronic form 170 422 471 Interception or Monitoring or 5 decryption of Information 0 0 0 Un-authorized access/attempt to 6 access to protected computer system 0 0 0 7 Abetment to Commit Offences 1 0 0 8 Attempt to Commit Offences 0 3 1 9 Other Sections of IT Act 0 9 32 A Total Offences under I.T. Act 6423 9940 17631 10 Abetment of Suicide (Online) 0 0 0 Cyber Stalking/Bullying of 11 Women/Children 0 0 0 12 Data theft 0 0 0 13 Fraud 0 0 0 14 Cheating 0 0 0 15 Forgery 0 0 0 16 Defamation/Morphing 0 0 0 17 Fake Profile 0 0 0 18 Counterfeiting 0 0 0 19 Cyber Blackmailing/Threatening 0 0 0 20 Fake News on Social Media 0 0 0 21 Other Offences 0 0 0 B Total Offences under IPC 0 0 0 22 Gambling Act (Online Gambling) 0 0 0 23 Lotteries Act (Online Lotteries) 0 0 0 24 Copy Right Act 0 0 0 25 Trade Marks Act 0 0 0 26 Other SLL Crimes 0 0 0 C Total Offences under SLL 0 0 0 Total Cyber Crimes 6423 9940 17631 Source: ‘Crime in India’ published by NCRB.-11- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2645 FOR 16.12.2025 ANNEXURE-III Crimeheads-wise Cases Registered under Cyber Crimes (Involving Communication Devices as Medium/Target) during 2023 Cases SL Crime heads Registered 1 Tampering computer source documents 71 2 Computer Related Offences 35329 2.1 Computer Related Offences 4154 2.1A Ransom-ware 795 2.1B Offences other than Ransom-ware 3359 2.2 Dishonestly receiving stolen computer resource or communication device 395 2.3 Identity Theft 4978 2.4 Cheating by personation by using computer resource 25334 2.5 Violation of Privacy 468 3 Cyber Terrorism 11 4 Publication/transmission of obscene / sexually explicit act in electronic form 7893 4.1 Publishing or transmitting obscene material in Electronic Form 3110 Publishing or transmitting of material containing Sexually explicit act in 4.2 2168 electronic form Publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in Sexually explicit act 4.3 1472 in electronic form 4.4 Preservation and retention of information by intermediaries 23 4.5 Other Sections 67 IT Act 1120 5 Interception or Monitoring or decryption of Information 1 6 Un-authorized access/attempt to access to protected computer system 1 7 Abetment to Commit Offences 0 8 Attempt to Commit Offences 11 9 Other Sections of IT Act 920 A Total Offences under I.T. Act 44237 10 Abetment of Suicide (Online) 30 11 Cyber Stalking/Bullying of Women/Children 1305 12 Data theft 113 13 Fraud 19466 13.1 Credit Card/Debit Card 2098 13.2 ATMs 1783 13.3 Online Banking Fraud 4435 13.4 OTP Frauds 5116 13.5 Others 6034 14 Cheating 16943 15 Forgery 444 16 Defamation/Morphing 36 17 Fake Profile 225 18 Counterfeiting 0 18.1 Currency 0 18.2 Stamps 0 19 Cyber Blackmailing/Threatening 689 20 Fake News on Social Media 209 21 Other Offences 2389 B Total Offences under IPC 41849 22 Gambling Act (Online Gambling) 87 23 Lotteries Act (Online Lotteries) 0 24 Copy Right Act 23 25 Trade Marks Act 1 26 Other SLL Crimes 223 C Total Offences under SLL 334 Total Cyber Crimes (A+B+C) 86420 Source: ‘Crime in India’ published by NCRB.-12- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2645 FOR 16.12.2025 ANNEXURE-IV Offences under the IT Act along with their penal actions S. Section Offence Punishment Bailable/Cognizable No. No. 1 65 Tampering with computer source documents. Imprisonment up to 3 years Bailable, Cognizable or fine up to 2 lakhs or both 2 66 Computer related offences: Punishment for Imprisonment up to 3 years Bailable, Cognizable doing dishonestly or fraudulently any act cited or fine up to 5 lakh or both. in section 43 directly or causing any person to do so, such as unauthorised access to or use of, introducing virus to, damages to, disruption of, denial of access to, assistance to access to, wrongful charges to another person’s account by tampering with, destroying, deletion or alteration of any information in, computer resource or stealing/ concealing/ destroying any computer source code. 3 66B Punishment for dishonestly receiving stolen Imprisonment up to 3 years Bailable, Cognizable computer resource or communication device or fine up to 1 lakh or both. 4 66C Punishment for identity theft, i.e., making use Imprisonment up to 3 years Bailable, Cognizable of or fine up to 1 lakh or both. 5 66D Punishment for cheating by personation by Imprisonment up to 3 years Bailable, Cognizable using computer resource and fine up to 1 lakh. 6 66E Punishment for violation of privacy. Imprisonment up to 3 years Bailable, Cognizable or fine up to 2 lakh or both 7 66F Punishment for cyber terrorism Imprisonment which may Non-Bailable, extend to life. Cognizable 8 67 Punishment for publishing or transmitting 1st Conviction – Bailable, Cognizable obscene material in electronic form Imprisonment up to 3 years and fine up to 5 lakh. 2nd Conviction – Imprisonment up to 5 years and fine up to 10 lakh 9 67A Punishment for publishing or transmitting of 1st Conviction – Non-Bailable, Cognizable material containing sexually explicit act, etc., Imprisonment up to 5 years in electronic form and fine up to 10 lakh. 2nd Conviction – Imprisonment up to 7 years and fine up to 10 lakh.-13- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2645 FOR 16.12.2025 ANNEXURE-IV S. Section Offence Punishment Bailable/Cognizable No. No. 10 67B Punishment for publishing or transmitting of 1st Conviction – Non-Bailable, material depicting children in sexually explicit Imprisonment up to 5 years act, etc., in electronic form and fine up to 10 lakh. Cognizable 2nd Conviction – Imprisonment up to 7 years and fine up to 10 lakh. 11 69 Power to issue directions for interception or Imprisonment up to 7 years Non-Bailable, monitoring or decryption of any information and fine through any computer resource (punishment Cognizable to intermediary who fails to assist the agency) 12 69A Power to issue directions for blocking for Imprisonment up to 7 years Non-Bailable, public access of any information through any and fine computer resource. (punishment to Cognizable intermediary who fails to comply with such Government direction) 13 69B Power to authorise to monitor and collect Imprisonment up to 1 year Bailable, traffic data or information through any or fine up to 1 crore or both computer resource for cyber security. Cognizable (punishment to intermediary who intentionally or knowingly contravenes by not providing technical assistance) 14 70 Critical Information Infrastructure (CII)/ Imprisonment up to 10 Non-Bailable, Protected system: Punishment to any person years and fine who secures access or attempts to secure Cognizable access to any computer resources relating to CII and declared as protected system 15 70B CERT-In: Indian Computer Emergency Imprisonment up to 1 year Bailable, Response Team (CERT-In) to serve as or fine up to 1 crore or both national agency for incident response. Non-Cognizable (punishment to any service provider, intermediaries, datacentres, etc., who fails to provide the information called for or comply with the direction issued by the CERT-In) 16 71 Punishment for misrepresentation to Imprisonment up to 2 years Bailable, Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) or or fine up to 1 lakh or both Certifying Authorities Non-Cognizable 17 73 Punishment for publishing electronic Imprisonment up to 2 years Bailable, signature Certificate false in certain or fine up to 1 lakh or both particulars Non-Cognizable 18 74 Punishment for publication of electronic Imprisonment up to 2 years Bailable, signature certificate for fraudulent purpose or fine up to 1 lakh or both Non-Cognizable ******