Delhi has seen a dramatic dip in cyber financial frauds this year, in stark contrast to the continued rise nationwide, with both the monthly average number of cases and the total money lost showing steep
declines in the first half of 2025.
A few senior government officials claim that the drop is likely due to non-registration of cases or delay in registration of cases.
From January to June 2025, Delhi Police registered 184 cyber financial fraud cases, averaging 31 cases a month. This is the lowest monthly average in the last 10 years, far below the 133 cases a month recorded in 2024. The drop represents a 76.5 per cent decline in average monthly case volume compared to last year.
The official data from the Ministry of Home Affairs shows that in the first six months of 2025, fewer cases have been registered than in any comparable period over the last decade.
This is a sharp reversal from 2024 when Delhi saw 1,591 cases. In 2023, the city reported 1,347 cases (112 per month). Earlier, there were 1,545 cases in 2022 (129 a month), 1,630 in 2021 (136 a month) and 1,687 in 2020 (141 a month).
Losses Falling Sharply?
The total amount lost in the first half of 2025 stood at Rs 70.65 crore, an average of Rs 12 crore a month. This is an 82.6 per cent drop from the record-high Rs 817.65 crore lost in 2024, when monthly losses averaged Rs 68 crore.
In previous years, the amounts lost were Rs 183.56 crore in 2023 (Rs 15 crore a month), Rs 231.24 crore in 2022 (Rs 19.27 crore a month), Rs 91.04 crore in 2021 (Rs 7.6 crore a month) and Rs 35.3 crore in 2020 (Rs 2.94 crore a month).
If the current pace holds, 2025 could mark the sharpest annual drop in both case numbers and money lost to cyber fraud in Delhi in the last 10 years, making the city an outlier in a country otherwise experiencing an upward trend in such crimes.
What Is The National Picture?
While Delhi is seeing its steepest annual fall in cybercrime in a decade, India overall has been witnessing a massive surge.
According to national cybercrime reporting data, the number of registered cyber financial fraud cases across the country has been climbing each year, with losses crossing record levels in several states in 2024 and early 2025. In many parts of India, cases are up by double-digit percentages, with rural and semi-urban regions now reporting a significant share of victims.
According to another official MHA data on overall cybercrime, Himachal Pradesh, considered low-risk in terms of digital crime, has witnessed a six-fold increase from 2,024 cases in 2021 to 13,990 in 2024, a 591 per cent surge. Jammu & Kashmir logged 2,515 incidents in 2021 and 15,088 in 2024, up 499 per cent. Assam and Arunachal Pradesh followed with increases of 256 per cent and 436 per cent respectively over the same period.
The trend is similar in several other states. Uttar Pradesh, already among the highest in absolute numbers, went from 72,740 cases in 2021 to 3,01,057 in 2024—a 314 per cent rise. Across all states and Union Territories, more than 67 lakh cybercrime complaints have been reported in less than five years.
