India lost $2.64 billion to cyber fraud in 2024, govt says

Indians lost more than Rs22,845 crore (about $2.64 billion) to cyber fraud last year, marking a steep rise of nearly 206% from the previous year, according to government data and an independent cybercrime report.

The country now ranks second globally for crypto-related cyberattacks.

Minister of state for home affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, said 3.6 million financial cyber frauds were reported last year, up from 2.4 million cases in 2023.

The data was taken from the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) and the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS), both managed by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the home ministry.

Kumar said the CFCFRMS, launched in 2021, has helped prevent the loss of over Rs5,489 crore through timely action on more than 17.82 lakh complaints. In total, more than 2.3 million cybercrime cases were reported to NCRP in 2024, showing a 42% rise from the previous year.

“Cybercrime incidents…are handled by the state/UT law enforcement agencies concerned as per the provisions of the law,” Kumar said.

Meanwhile, according to the State of AI-Powered Cybercrime: Threat & Mitigation Report 2025, released by the Global Initiative for Restructuring Environment and Management (GIREM) along with automotive retail tech firm Tekion, India ranked just behind the US in major crypto-related attacks in 2024, with 95 recorded incidents.

The report highlighted a 409% rise in crypto attacks, along with increases in malware (11%), ransomware (22%), and IoT-related attacks (59%). The report was unveiled by MA Saleem, DG and IG of Karnataka Police.

Cybercrime complaints rose from 1.5 million in 2023 to 1.9 million in 2024, most of which were financial frauds.

The GIREM report estimates citizen losses at ₹22,812 crore in 2024, almost three times the losses reported in 2023 and nearly ten times those in 2022. Over the last four years, total losses have reached Rs33,165 crore.

The report also noted that around 82.6% of phishing campaigns in 2024 used AI-generated content.

QR code phishing has become more common, where users are lured through fake posters and messages to scan codes that redirect them to fake UPI portals to steal banking data.

While cities like Bengaluru continue to report the highest number of cybercrimes, wih 17,623 cases in 2023 compared to 9,940 in 2022, the threat is expanding into rural areas. In Karnataka’s rural regions, cybercrime cases nearly doubled between 2022 and 2024. Tribal areas that reported no incidents in 2022 registered 12 cases in 2024.

Kumar said over 9.42 lakh SIM cards and 2.63 lakh IMEIs linked to cyber fraud have been blocked. A Suspect Registry launched in September 2024 has shared 11 lakh suspect identifiers and 24 lakh mule accounts with financial institutions, helping save Rs4,631 crore.

The government also introduced a ‘Pratibimb’ module to map locations of criminals and their infrastructure. The system has assisted in the arrest of 10,599 accused and helped in more than 63,000 cyber investigation requests.