New Delhi: India suffered cyber fraud losses amounting to Rs 11,333 crore in the first nine months of 2024, according to data from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), a division of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Stock trading scams accounted for the highest losses, with Rs 4,636 crore reported across 2,28,094 complaints. Investment-related scams followed, costing victims Rs 3,216 crore from 1,00,360 cases, while “digital arrest” frauds led to losses of Rs 1,616 crore from 63,481 complaints, reported The Indian Express.
Data from the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS), accessed by The Indian Express, revealed nearly 12 lakh cyber fraud complaints in 2024. Of these, 45% originated from Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos.
Since its inception in 2021, the CFCFRMS has recorded 30.05 lakh complaints, with total losses reaching Rs 27,914 crore. The yearly breakdown shows 11,31,221 complaints in 2023, 5,14,741 in 2022 and 1,35,242 in 2021.
Also read: Can ASEAN’s Cybersecurity Push Protect People and Economies?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently addressed the issue of “digital arrest” frauds during the 115th episode of his Mann Ki Baat radio programme. He stressed that no government agency contacts individuals via phone or video calls for investigations and clarified, “There is no system like digital arrest under the law.” Modi urged citizens to remain vigilant against such scams, after Indians lost Rs 120.3 crore in digital arrest frauds in the first quarter of this year.
Analysis of fraud cases revealed that stolen funds are often withdrawn through methods such as cheques, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), fintech crypto platforms, ATMs, merchant payments and e-wallets. The I4C has frozen approximately 4.5 lakh mule bank accounts in the past year to disrupt the laundering of cybercrime proceeds.
At an anti-terror conference, the I4C highlighted key challenges in investigating cyber fraud cases. These included the anonymity offered by digital wallets, foreign money exchanges, insufficient KYC protocols, VPN access and cryptocurrency-related fraud originating from abroad.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Telecommunications, the I4C has blocked 17,000 WhatsApp accounts linked to cybercriminals operating out of Southeast Asia. This move aims to disrupt offshore criminal networks, even as social engineering, deep fakes, ransomware, zero-day exploits and supply chain attacks emerge as new forms of cybercrime.