Parliament Question: Cyber Fraud Targeting Pilgrims and Tourists

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2664 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 16TH DECEMBER, 2025/ AGRAHAYANA 25, 1947 (SAKA) CYBER FRAUD TARGETING PILGRIMS AND TOURISTS †2664. SHRI MURARI LAL MEENA: Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state: (a) whether the incidents of cyber fraud targeting pilgrims and tourists particularly in the name of hotel bookings, travel packages or donation collections have increased significantly during the recent years; (b) if so, the details of cases registered, arrests made and investigation status from 2022 to 2025, State-wise and year-wise; (c) whether numerous fake websites and mobile numbers are being promoted on Google Search, social media and other open platforms in the name of religious and tourist destinations through which fraudsters collect money from travellers via UPI or Paytm, if so, the steps taken by the Government in this regard; and (d) whether the Government proposes to implement a mandatory system for verification and registration of such online booking platforms and travel agencies? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI BANDI SANJAY KUMAR) (a) to (d): 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 details of cases registered, cases charge--2- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2664 FOR 16.12.2025 sheeted, cases convicted, persons arrested, persons charge-sheeted and persons convicted under Fraud for Cyber Crimes (involving communication devices as medium/target) during the period from 2022 to 2023 are at the Annexure-I. Specific information related to cyber fraud targeting pilgrims and tourists is not maintained by NCRB. To strengthen the mechanism to deal with cyber crimes including cyber frauds targeting pilgrims and tourists, the Central Government has taken steps which, inter-alia, include the following: i. Ministry of Tourism through its Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) portal receives complaints/grievances related to service delivery, cheating etc. The CPGRAMS portal is available to the citizens 24x7 to lodge their grievances related to inappropriate trade practices by Tourism & hospitality service providers, including Online Travel Agents. ii. To ensure standardized services for tourists, Ministry of Tourism gives recognition to different categories of service providers in Travel & Hospitality industry including Online Travel Agents in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Ministry in each category for a period of 5 years. If Ministry of Tourism approved Travel & Tourism Stakeholders-3- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2664 FOR 16.12.2025 are not found to be working in the manner fulfilling the required service standards or complaints of serious nature related to deficiency in services, irregularities etc., or it is found that the agency has got recognition on the basis of false or fabricated documents, etc., the Ministry of Tourism may consider to withdraw/terminate/revoke the recognition granted. iii. The ‘National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal’ (NCRP) (https://cybercrime.gov.in) has been launched, as a part of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’ (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. iv. 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.-4- L.S.US.Q.NO. 2664 FOR 16.12.2025 v. ‘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. 18 phishing websites related to hotel booking impersonation for Char Dham Yatra, Parmarth Niketan, Somnath, etc. have been disabled under section 79 (3)(b), of IT Act, 2000. Shree Somnath Trust and I4C have identified and taken down more than 75 fake websites and advertisements impersonating the Trust. vi. An advisory was published by I4C, MHA to alert the public about online booking frauds, especially those targeting religious pilgrims and tourists across the country on 19.04.2025 through Press Information Bureau (PIB). *****ANNEXURE-I L.S. .US. Q. NO. 2664 FOR16.12.2025 State/UT-wise Cases Registered(CR), Cases Chargesheeted (CCS), Cases Convicted(CON), Persons Arrested(PAR), Persons Chargesheeted (PCS) and Persons Convicted(PCV) under Fraud (Sec. 420 r/w Sec.465, 468/471 IPC r/w IT Act) for Cyber Crimes (involving communication devices as medium/target) during 2022-2023 SL State/UT 2022 2023 CR CCS CON PAR PCS PCV CR CCS CON PAR PCS PCV 1 Andhra Pradesh 984 69 2 141 125 3 909 77 0 75 90 0 2 Arunachal Pradesh 0 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Assam 16 1 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Bihar 1441 829 2 1311 907 2 2611 1540 2 1899 1877 9 5 Chhattisgarh 42 19 0 37 37 0 29 10 0 11 11 0 6 Goa 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 Gujarat 108 43 0 93 86 0 112 32 0 88 70 0 8 Haryana 44 28 0 62 60 0 11 6 0 16 16 0 9 Himachal Pradesh 9 0 0 2 0 0 7 5 0 0 6 0 10 Jharkhand 98 53 0 85 123 0 43 21 0 21 21 0 11 Karnataka 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 Kerala 26 2 0 9 2 0 117 3 0 15 4 0 13 Madhya Pradesh 180 36 4 83 78 9 91 18 6 52 47 7 14 Maharashtra 2202 168 0 425 254 0 2075 276 0 565 449 0 15 Manipur 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 Meghalaya 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 Mizoram 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 Nagaland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 Odisha 957 62 0 87 106 0 1362 75 0 139 160 0 20 Punjab 61 6 0 43 13 0 25 16 1 27 18 2 21 Rajasthan 292 47 13 70 71 13 84 9 0 18 17 0 22 Sikkim 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 Tamil Nadu 251 21 0 78 31 0 887 14 0 46 26 0 24 Telangana 9581 1786 34 1730 2974 46 10626 1760 6 505 3757 6 25 Tripura 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 26 Uttar Pradesh 766 151 74 227 202 87 287 86 0 63 123 0 27 Uttarakhand 31 13 0 14 15 0 18 19 0 19 24 0 2 8 West Bengal 30 1 0 27 2 0 7 3 0 6 3 0 TOTAL STATE(S) 17130 3337 129 4529 5089 160 19301 3970 15 3565 6719 24 29 A&N Islands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 30 Chandigarh 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 31 D&N Haveli and Daman & Diu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 32 Delhi 331 51 0 249 119 0 163 31 7 85 61 11 33 Jammu & Kashmir 7 3 0 0 5 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 34 Ladakh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 35 Lakshadweep 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 Puducherry 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTAL UT(S) 340 54 0 249 124 0 165 31 7 85 61 11 TOTAL (ALL INDIA) 17470 3391 129 4778 5213 160 19466 4001 22 3650 6780 35 Source: ‘Crime in India’ published by NCRB.