Telangana ranked first in cyber fraud: Govt to Rajya Sabha
Over the years, cyber fraud has nearly tripled in the country, notably from 10,395 in 2020 to 29,758 in 2024, with Telangana accounting for the highest number of cases recorded in 2024, the government informed the Parliament on Wednesday, July 29.
The written reply was given to a question asked in the Rajya Sabha by the Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar as per the data published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Among the identified categories in 2024, online banking fraud accounted for the highest number of cases at 4,659, followed by credit or debit card fraud (3,829), marketing or investment fraud (3,044), ATM fraud (1,659), fraud call or vishing (1,264), gaming app or website fraud (1,019), OTP fraud (965) and e-wallet or UPI fraud (723).
The minister stated that separate data under gaming apps or websites, marketing or investment fraud, fraud call or vishing, and e-wallet or UPI fraud has been maintained only since 2024.
State-wise data showed that the state of Telangana recorded the highest number of cyber fraud cases in 2024 at 18,922, followed by Bihar (4,020), Maharashtra (2,827) and Odisha (1,546), correspondingly.
The minister said that the NCRB does not maintain data on the amount of money lost or recovered in cyber fraud cases. He mentioned that the Ministry of Home Affairs has set up the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to tackle cyber-crimes in a coordinated manner.
As per the law, the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal enables citizens to report all types of cyber-crimes, while the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS), launched in 2021, facilitates immediate reporting of financial frauds to prevent siphoning of funds.
According to the reply, till June 30, 2026, the CFCFRMS had helped save more than Rs 11,158 crore in over 32.80 lakh complaints. The minister mentioned that cyber-crime complaints, their conversion into FIRs and further action are handled by the respective state and Union Territory law enforcement agencies.
While listing measures taken to strengthen cyber policing, the minister said these include the Samanvay platform for data sharing and analytics, the Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre, the Sahyog portal, Joint Cyber Coordination Teams, a cyber-criminal suspect registry, the Cyber Commando programme, National-Digital Investigation Support Centres, a standard operating procedure for complaint handling, and nationwide public awareness campaigns.
(With inputs from PTI)
