Citizens lost more than Rs 22,845.73 crore to cyber criminals in 2024, a staggering increase of nearly 206 per cent from the previous year, Lok Sabha was informed Tuesday.
Responding to a written question, Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar said that according to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) and Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud.
Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS) operated by the ministry’s I4C, “total amount of losses incurred by citizens due to cyber frauds in the entire country” in 2024 was Rs 22,845.73 crore as compared to Rs 7,465.18 crore the previous year.
Kumar said 36,37,288 incidents of financial fraud committed by cyber criminals were reported on NCRP and CFCFRMS in 2024 as compared to 24,42,978 such incidents the previous year.
According to the data shared by the minister, 10,29,026 cyber crimes were reported on NCRP in 2022 with a 127.44% increase over the previous year, 15,96,493 incidents were reported in 2023 showing a 55.15% increment, and 22,68,346 cases were reported in 2024, reflecting a 42.08 per cent increase.
“The Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS), under I4C, was launched in 2021 for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters,” he said.
The Minister said that as per CFCFRMS, a financial amount of more than Rs 5,489 crore has been saved in more than 17.82 lakh complaints reported on it so far.
“Cyber crime incidents reported on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, their conversion into FIRs and subsequent action, i.e., filing of chargesheets, arrests and resolution of complaints, thereon are handled by the state/UT law enforcement agencies concerned as per the provisions of the law,” Kumar said.
Giving details of the action taken by the government against cyber criminals, the minister said so far, more than 9.42 lakh SIM cards and 2,63,348 IMEIs, as reported by police authorities, have been blocked by the Centre.
A Suspect Registry of identifiers of cyber criminals was launched by I4C on September 10, 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 4,631 crore, he said.
The minister said it has launched the ‘Pratibimb’ module, which maps locations of criminals and crime infrastructure on a map to give visibility to jurisdictional officers.
“The module also facilitates seeking and receiving techno-legal assistance by law enforcement agencies from I4C and other SMEs. It has led to the arrest of 10,599 accused, 26,096 linkages and 63,019 cyber investigation assistance requests,” Kumar said.
