Mumbai has experienced a dramatic rise in cybercrimes, with residents losing INR 1,181 crore in just 11 months this year. This marks a 350% increase compared to 2023. Reports highlight an increase in scams, including investment fraud, task job fraud, and digital arrest cases.
On December 10, Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar presented some stats to the Lok Sabha. He said that the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System, launched in 2021, has recorded over 9.9 lakh complaints nationwide. Mumbai accounted for 8% or 77,331 complaints of the total, despite being home to only 1% of India’s population.
Calls to the city’s 1930 cybercrime helpline also increased sharply. They rose from 91,000 in 2023 to more than 5 lakh by November 2024.
Not all calls to the helpline were from fraud victims. Many were from individuals approached by scammers but did not fall victim. Despite this, actual reported losses have grown significantly. In 2023, 18,256 people reported losing INR 262.51 crore. By November 2024, 55,707 victims reported losses totalling INR 1,181.43 crore, a threefold rise.
By November 2024, only INR 139.15 crore, or 11.77% of the total stolen amount, was recovered. This is slightly better than the INR 26.52 crore (10.12%) recovered in 2023. Sources suggest that the actual number of cases and financial losses may be much higher. Many victims file complaints directly with local police or cyber police stations, bypassing the helpline. Such incidents are not included in the helpline's data.
Interestingly, cybercriminals often operate from other states or outside India. Delays in victims reporting fraud and challenges in obtaining data from service providers also hinder recovery efforts.
In spite, the Mumbai Police's helpline team successfully saved over INR 150 crore in 2024. They also blacklisted 6,500 suspicious mobile devices. However, authorities acknowledge that much more needs to be done to tackle the rising tide of cybercrime.
According to data obtained through RTI, financial losses from task job fraud reached INR 36.89 crore by June 2024. In comparison, this figure was INR 40.77 crore for the entire year of 2023. Losses from investment and trading fraud have grown significantly. These scams caused losses of INR 7.76 crore in 2023 but increased nearly 25 times to INR 191 crore by June 2024.