India Faces high Cyber Fraud Attacks from Southeast Asia, Over 6 lac complaints filed this year

Recent data reveals that India is currently grappling with a significant increase in cyber fraud originating from Southeast Asian countries. This surge in fraudulent activities, including investment scams, trading scams, digital arrest scams, and dating scams, has surpassed the threat posed by domestic hotspots such as Jamtara and Mewat.
According to the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), between January and April of this year, a staggering amount of money was lost to cyber fraud. Specifically, Rs 1,420 crore was lost to 62,587 investment scams, Rs 222 crore to 20,043 trading scams, Rs 120 crore to 4,600 digital arrest scams, and Rs 13 crore to 1,725 dating scams. All of these scams originated from Southeast Asia. In 2023 alone, there were over 100,000 investment scams and 10,000 FIRs (First Information Reports) related to these cybercrimes reported on the national cybercrime portal.
The CEO of I4C, Rajesh Kumar, has stated that these scams are orchestrated by organized crime syndicates operating from countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, and Lao PDR. These syndicates employ Indian job seekers through illegal recruitment agents and coerce them into targeting their fellow citizens. Kumar points out that these criminal groups operate in an organized manner, often from scam compounds, with many of them previously linked to casinos.
There are indications of Chinese involvement in these scams as well. Chinese individuals have reportedly been working in these compounds, and some of the fraudulent apps used in these schemes are written in Chinese.
Despite the alarming rise in high-value fraud cases, with over 600,000 complaints amounting to Rs 7,061 crore filed this year, I4C has successfully prevented Rs 812.7 crore from being defrauded. Through collaboration with law enforcement agencies, they have been able to freeze 320,000 mule accounts, block over 3,000 URLs and 595 apps, and suspend 530,000 SIM cards and 80,000 IMEI numbers since July 2023. Additionally, they have removed 3,401 instances of unlawful content from various online platforms in the past two months.
Indian nationals who are lured to Southeast Asia with false promises of job opportunities are often coerced into carrying out these scams. Illegal recruiters, particularly from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Delhi, are responsible for sending these individuals to cybercrime hubs. In May, the cybercrime police in Visakhapatnam arrested three agents involved in these activities, and similar arrests have been made in Odisha. The Indian embassy in Phnom Penh has been actively working to repatriate Indian victims, with around 360 individuals already returned and another 60 expected to be repatriated soon.
To address the escalating threat, the Indian government has established an inter-ministerial committee dedicated to tackling transnational cybercrimes targeting Indians. This committee comprises various law enforcement and intelligence agencies, demonstrating a concerted effort to combat this growing menace.