Parliament Question: Sharp rise in cyber and financial frauds and resultant losses

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1349 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 11TH FEBRUARY, 2026/ MAGHA 22, 1947 (SAKA) SHARP RISE IN CYBER AND FINANCIAL FRAUDS AND RESULTANT LOSSES

1349. SMT. RENUKA CHOWDHURY:

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) whether it is a fact that cases of cyber fraud and financial fraud have increased sharply in the country since 2021, year-wise;

(b) the total number of reported cyber frauds, banking frauds, digital payment frauds and other financial frauds, along with the total amount of money lost, year-wise since 2021;

(c) whether Government has assessed the reasons behind the rise in cyber frauds, including rapid digitisation, weak cyber awareness, poor grievance redressal, delayed response and cross-border criminal networks; and

(d) whether it is a fact that a large proportion of fraud amounts remain unrecovered, if so, details of total amount recovered vis-à-vis losses incurred, year-wise? 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, Crime Head-wise details of cases registered under cyber crimes (involving communication devices as medium/target) during the period from 2021 to 2023 is as under:-2- R.S.US.Q.NO. 1349 FOR 11.02.2026 Sl. No. Crime Heads 2021 2022 2023

1. Credit Card/Debit Card 1624 1665 2098

2. ATMs 1899 1690 1783

3. Online Banking Fraud 4823 6491 4435

4. OTP Frauds 2028 2910 5116

5. Others 3633 4714 6034 Fraud (Total) (1 to 5) 14007 17470 19466 ‘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 prosecution of , crimes and recovery of amount 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:-3- R.S.US.Q.NO. 1349 FOR 11.02.2026 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 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 31.12.2025, financial amount of more than Rs. 8,189 Crore has been saved in more than 23.61 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- R.S.US.Q.NO. 1349 FOR 11.02.2026 Agency are working together for immediate action and seamless cooperation to tackle cybercrime.

v. 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, include; newspaper advertisement, announcement in Delhi Metros, use of-5- R.S.US.Q.NO. 1349 FOR 11.02.2026 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.

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