Cyber Crime Cases See Annual Increase by At Least 40%, Rs. 30,000 Crore Lost to Fraud Since 2023: Govt
The Wire Staff
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New Delhi: Incidents of cyber crime have seen a yearly increase by at least 40% over the last three years, data furnished by the government in the Parliament has revealed.
In reply to a question asked in the Lok Sabha by Janata Dal (United) (JD (U)) MP Ajay Kumar Mandal, minister of state for home affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar also stated that more than Rs. 30,000 crore has been reported as losses from financial frauds collectively in 2023 and 2024.
According to the data shared by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), 10,29,026 incidents of cyber crimes were registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) in 2022, which saw an increase of a whopping 127.44% from the total number of cases reported in 2021, which stood at 4,52,429 cases.
In 2023, the number of cases rose to 15,96,493, registering an increase of 55.15%. Thereafter, this number further increased to 22,68,346 in 2024, with an increase of 42.08%, the data presented by the MHA in the Parliament has revealed.
According to the data, Rs. 7465.18 crore was reported to be lost in financial frauds in 2023, with this figure increasing to Rs. 22,845.73 in 2024, taking the collective figure of money lost in financial frauds in these two years to more than Rs. 30,000 crore.
“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 has lead to arrest of 10,599 accused, 26,096 linkages and 63,019 Cyber Investigation assistance request,” the MHA said in its reply.
Data about resolution of complaints not provided
While MP Mandal had asked about the number of complaints which were resolved out of a total of 19.18 lakh registered complaints on NCRP and the current status of the remaining cases, the MHA did not furnish this data saying that the filing of chargesheets, arrest and resolution of complaints, thereon are handled by the State/UT Law Enforcement Agencies concerned as per the provisions of the law.
The MHA added that so far, more than 9.42 lakhs SIM cards and 2,63,348 IMEIs as reported by police authorities have been blocked by Government of India.
“A Suspect Registry of identifiers of cyber criminals has been launched by I4C on 10.09.2024 in collaboration with Banks/Financial Institutions. So far, more than 11 lakh suspect identifier data received from Banks and 24 lakh Layer 1 mule accounts have been shared with the participating entities of Suspect Registry and saved more than Rs. 4631 crores,” said the MHA in its reply on Tuesday (July 22).
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