Around 1.1 million financial fraud cases registered in 2023, shows data

A total of 1.13 million cases of financial cyber fraud were reported in 2023, according to a Lok Sabha reply on February 6.

The ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’ was set up under the ‘Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’ by the Ministry of Home Affairs to report financial fraud.

“More than Rs 1,200 crore have been saved in more than 4.7 lakh (470,000) complaints,” since the start of the system, as per the reply.

It added that the government had blocked 320,000 SIM cards and 49,000 International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers reported by the police.

The top five states accounted for half of the financial cyber fraud cases last year. Uttar Pradesh was at the top with around 200,000 cases, the highest across 36 states and union territories. Next was Maharashtra with 130,000 complaints reported, followed by Gujarat (120,000), Rajasthan and Haryana (80,000 each). Lakshadweep was at the bottom with 29 cases (chart 1).

 

These 1.13 million cases had an amount involved of Rs 7,488.6 crore. The maximum amount was Rs 990.7 crore in Maharashtra. Telangana followed with Rs 759.1 crore. Next were Uttar Pradesh (Rs 721.1 crore), Karnataka (Rs 662.1 crore) and Tamil Nadu (Rs 661.2 crore). Lakshadweep had the least amount involved at Rs 0.2 crore (chart 2).

Around 300,000 complaints were on hold with a lien amount of Rs 921.6 crore in 2023, as per the reply.

Data from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) shows that 1,391,457 cyber security incidents were reported in 2022, however lower than 1,402,809 in 2021. There has been a rising trend in recent years. The number was 208,456 in 2018.