Losses from Cyber fraud have more than doubled in just ten years, said Pankaj Chaudhary, Minister of State in the Union Finance Ministry, who made this announcement on 10 March 2025.

Responding to a question in the Lok Sabha, Mr Chaudhary said losses due to cyber frauds would increase from ₹18.46 crore in 2014-15 to around ₹177.05 crore in 2023-24. Last year, the cost of cyber scams during the first nine months of 2025 (April-December 2024) was ₹107.21 crore.

He noted that the number of cyberfrauds involving ₹1 lakh or more increased from 815 in FY15 to 29,082 in FY24. This figure was 13,384 during the first nine months of FY25.

Chaudhary stated, “Incidences of fraudulent practices, including digital payment frauds, have also increased in the last few years due to the country’s growing number of digital payment transactions.”

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs estimates that over ₹1.2 trillion will be lost by Indians due to cyber fraud in the coming year.

The National Cybercrime Reporting Portal and the National Cybercrime Helpline Number (1930) have been established by the Union Home Ministry to assist victims of cybercrime, Chaudhary stated.

According to him, the Department of Telecommunications has also launched the Digital Intelligence Platform and the “Chakshu” feature on the Sanchar Saathi website to allow people to report alleged fraudulent communications they have received through WhatsApp, SMS, or phone calls, including messages about bank account updates or KYC expiration.

However, Chaudhary assigned the responsibility of preventing, detecting, investigating, and prosecuting crimes—including cybercrime—to states and union territories.

“Through financial assistance and advisory services under various schemes for the capacity building of their LEAs (law enforcement agencies), the Central government complements the initiatives of the states/UTs,” he stated.

By issuing alerts and advisories and conducting cybersecurity mock drills to enable evaluation of an organization’s readiness and cyber security posture, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) takes a number of steps to ensure the safe use of digital technologies and prevent cyber frauds, he continued.