INDIA'S CYBER FRAUD LANDSCAPE: GLIMPSE INTO GOVERNMENT'S STRATEGIC CRUSADE

In a landscape where Digital India is reshaping every facet of daily life, India’s cyberspace has become an electrifying hub of activity, billions of digital interactions and transactions pulse through the network every moment.

- SAKSHI REWARIA

Yet amid this digital gold rush lurks a shadowy underbelly: the staggering surge of cyber frauds threatening the safety of Indian citizens.

‘The government's groundbreaking report, “Curbing Cyber Frauds in Digital India,” released recently in October 2025, throws the spotlight on this escalating menace and the formidable arsenal of strategies deployed to secure India’s digital highways.

With over 86% of Indian households now online, thanks to the visionary Digital India initiative, convenient access to digital services is at an all-time high. But this digital revolution has come with a double-edged sword. The report reveals an alarming leap in cybersecurity incidents from 10.29 lakh in 2022 to an astonishing 22.68 lakh by 2024. This means the threat landscape has transformed from a simmer to a roaring blaze in just two years. Even more telling is the financial haemorrhage cyber frauds have extracted, a whopping Rs. 36.45 lakh reported on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal by February 2025. These figures scream a pressing need for resilient cyber defenses in the country.

What makes cyber fraud a particularly slippery foe is its chameleon-like adaptability. Fraudsters employ a kaleidoscope of tactics, unauthorised data breaches, phishing scams, identity thefts, sophisticated malware attacks, shifting their strategies to exploit emerging technologies and unsuspecting users.