New Delhi – Cybercrime cases in India increased by 31.2 per cent in 2023, with fraud, extortion and sexual exploitation making up the majority of incidents, according to the latest Crime in India report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
The report showed that cases registered under the cybercrime category climbed to 86,420 in 2023 from 65,893 in 2022. The crime rate under this category rose from 4.8 per cent in 2022 to 6.2 per cent in 2023.
Fraud-related offences remained the most dominant, accounting for 68.9 per cent or 59,526 of the total cases, followed by sexual exploitation (4.9 per cent or 4,199 cases) and extortion (3.8 per cent or 3,326 cases).
The data showed that Karnataka reported the highest number of cybercrime cases at 21,889 in 2023, compared with 12,556 in 2022. Telangana followed with 18,236 cases, up from 15,297 in the previous year, while Uttar Pradesh registered 10,794 cases.
Karnataka alone accounted for 18,166 cases of cheating by personation and more than 1,000 cases involving the circulation of obscene videos.
The report also highlighted a steady rise in cybercrime cases over the last five years: 27,248 cases in 2018, 44,735 in 2019, 50,035 in 2020, 52,974 in 2021, 65,893 in 2022 and 86,420 in 2023.
In addition to cybercrime, the NCRB said that a total of 2,04,973 cases were registered under economic offences in 2023, marking a 6 per cent rise from 1,93,385 cases in 2022.
Of these, forgery, cheating and fraud formed the bulk with 1,81,553 cases, followed by criminal breach of trust (22,759 cases) and counterfeiting (661 cases).
The Crime in India report, first published in 1953, compiles crime data from states, districts and major cities. The 2023 edition provides nationwide statistics across categories.
