New Delhi: Indians lost a whopping Rs 22,845.73 crore to cybercriminals in 2024, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday. This is a 206% jump over the 2023 figure of Rs 7,465.18 crore, minister of state for home affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar informed the lower house of Parliament. This was in response to a written question.
The minister quoted figures revealed by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) that manages the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) and the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS).
According to Kumar, 36,37,288 incidents of financial cyber fraud were recorded on the NCCRP and the CFCFRMS in 2024, compared to 24,42,978 in 2023. In 2022, a total of 10,29,026 cybercrimes were reported on the NCCRP in 2022.
The CFCFRMS, launched in 2021, “facilitates immediate reporting of financial frauds to prevent criminals from siphoning off funds,” Kumar noted. He added that the CFCFRMS has saved over Rs 5,489 crore across more than 17.82 lakh complaints reported so far.
Providing details on government action against cybercriminals, the minister said that over 9.42 lakh SIM cards and 2,63,348 IMEIs have been blocked by the Centre.
“A Suspect Registry for tracking cybercriminals’ identifiers was launched by I4C on 10 September 2024, in collaboration with banks and financial institutions. So far, over 11 lakh suspect identifiers from banks and 24 lakh Layer 1 mule accounts have been shared with participating entities, saving more than Rs 4,631 crore,” Kumar said.
The minister also said that the ‘Pratibimb’ module, which maps criminals’ locations and crime infrastructure, has been introduced to assist jurisdictional officers.
“This module has facilitated the arrest of 10,599 accused, established 26,096 linkages, and addressed 63,019 cyber investigation assistance requests,” he added.