Cybercrime in India on the rise, fraud cases highest: NCRB
What's the story
Cybercrime in India has witnessed a massive spike of 31.2% in 2023, according to the latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The report highlights fraud, extortion, and sexual exploitation as the major contributors to this surge. The number of cybercrime cases jumped from 65,893 in 2022 to a staggering 86,420 in 2023.
Fraud prevalence
Fraud most common cybercrime
Fraud-related offenses have emerged as the most common form of cybercrime in India, accounting for a whopping 68.9% (59,526 cases) of all incidents. This highlights the growing concerns over digital security and the urgent need for enhanced cyber vigilance across the country. Sexual exploitation and extortion made up 4.9% (4,199 cases) and 3.8% (3,326 cases), respectively, of all registered cybercrimes in 2023.
State-wise distribution
Karnataka, Telangana top list of states with most cybercrimes
Karnataka topped the list of states with the highest number of cybercrime cases in 2023, reporting a staggering 21,889 incidents. This is a sharp increase from 12,556 cases in 2022 and 8,136 in 2021. The state witnessed 18,166 cases of cheating by impersonation and over 1,000 instances where obscene videos were transferred. Telangana followed closely with an increase to 18,236 cases in 2023 from its count of 15,297 in the previous year.
Rising incidents
Economic offenses on the rise
Uttar Pradesh ranked third with 10,794 cybercrime cases last year. The NCRB report also noted a 6% increase in economic offenses overall, with 2,04,973 cases registered in 2023 as compared to 1,93,385 in the previous year. Forgery, cheating and fraud (FCF) accounted for most of these cases at 1,81,553 followed by criminal breach of trust (22,759) and counterfeiting (661).