Indians Lost INR 22,845 Cr To Cyber Fraud In 2024: Govt

SUMMARY

This marks a 206% increase compared to INR 7,465.18 Cr lost by the Indians to cyber frauds in the previous year

However, over INR 5,489 Cr has been saved from being siphoned off in 17.82 Lakh complaints so far

The minister also shared that over 9.42 Lakh SIM cards and 2.63 Lakh IMEIs, have been blocked by the government of India

Indians lost INR 22,845.73 Cr to cyber frauds in 2024, minister of state (MoS) for home affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply today.

This marks a 206% increase compared to INR 7,465.18 Cr lost by the Indians to cyber frauds in the previous year.

In a written reply, Kumar said that the total amount corresponds to 19.18 Lakh complaints on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) and 17.18 Lakh complaints received through the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS) in 2024.

However, as per another data, over INR 5,489 Cr has been saved so far from being siphoned off against 17.82 Lakh complaints.

“As per CFCFRMS operated by I4C, so far, a financial amount of more than INR 5,489 Cr has been saved in more than 17.82 Lakh complaints,” Kumar said in his response.

It is pertinent to note that I4C launched a suspect registry of identifiers of cybercriminals on September 10, 2024, in collaboration with banks and financial institutions.

Kumar added that so far, more than 11 Lakh suspect identifier records have been received from banks, and details of 24 Lakh Layer-1 mule accounts have been shared with participating entities via the Suspect Registry, helping prevent fraud worth over INR 4,631 Cr.

In alignment with the cybersecurity efforts, the minister further shared that over 9.42 Lakh SIM cards and 2,63,348 IMEIs, as reported by police authorities, have been blocked by the government.

The last three years have seen a steady rise in cybercrime incidents reported on the portal.

Data shared by the minister revealed that incidents rose by 42.08% to 2.26 Lakh in 2024, following a 55.15% increase in 2023 to 1.59 Lakh and a 127.44% surge in 2022 to 1.02 Lakh incidents.

The government in March shared that citizens lost a total amount of INR 107.21 Cr in between April and December 2024.

Meanwhile, the government, along with the RBI, have been taking several measures to curb cyber fraud.

For instance, in June, the RBI directed all banks to incorporate the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) into their system to indicate real-time data exchange between banks and DoT platforms.

The government has already established I4C as a nodal agency to coordinate the national response to cybercrime and NCRP for online reporting of all types of cybercrimes.