As India continues to transform digitally, while online transactions have become two taps away on our smartphones, citizens have become more susceptible to financial scams and cybercrimes. From phishing attacks to sophisticated financial frauds, the scale and complexity of scams have reached new heights, leaving citizens vulnerable. This annual wrap-up delves into the most notable scams of the year, examining their impact on individuals and businesses, and exploring how the evolving digital infrastructure poses both challenges and opportunities in the fight against cybercrime.
A majority of the scams that hit the headlines in the country this year targeted common citizens directly, unlike previous years where major scams either involved politicians or massive financial frauds by the elite that deprived the general public. Notably, major scams this year were not about sealing the deal with a big number, but rather multiple smaller, similar frauds to form a huge loss collectively.
The major scams that took the news headlines include digital arrest scams, online investment scams, dating scams, TRAI and FedEx scams, among others.
According to the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (IC4), under the Indian Home ministry, Indians lost nearly Rs 1,750 crore to cybercrime in 2024, with over 740,000 complaints registered through the national cybercrime platform. These do not include the calls received via the helpline number 1930.
IC4 predicts that Indians could lose Rs 1.2 lakh crore in 2025, taking account of the trajectory of the cybercrime rates and the readiness of Indian citizens to tackle the ever-evolving cybercrime. This could amount to 0.7 percent of India’s GDP.
Digital Arrest: In the most havoc-wrecking scam in 2024 India, scamsters pose as law enforcement officers and claim to enforce a “digital arrest” over unwary victims. These scammers typically contacted individuals via phone or video calls, falsely accusing them of serious crimes and threatening imminent arrest. Instilling fear, they extort money from the victims, offering to relieve them from the case and legal consequences.
Senior Indian bureaucrats, even judges have become victims of the digital arrest scam. According to IC4, 92,323 Indian citizens reported that they fell victim to digital arrest fraud in India in 2024.
TRAI Fraud Calls: Scammers impersonated officials from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), contacting potential victims and threatening them with imminent deactivation of their SIM cards and phone numbers. These fraudsters extracted sensitive personal information, including bank details and PAN numbers, under the guise of urgency. Once they obtained this information, they exploited it to siphon money from the victims’ accounts.
Online Investment Scams: Another prevalent scheme, capitalised on the rapid growth of India’s digital economy. Scammers approached targets through various social media platforms, promising lucrative returns on investments that rivalled traditional methods. Victims, lured by these enticing offers, were tricked into ‘investing’ money by transferring funds to mule accounts provided by the fraudsters, only to discover they had been conned.
Dating Fraud: Online and offline dating fraud has seen a surge in Indian cities in 2024, with scammers creating fake profiles on dating apps to lure victims. They initiate a conversation with potential victims, extract compromising information and pictures, and threaten to leak them to the victim’s friends and family. These scams often result in a never-ending loop where the fraudsters regularly demand ransom from the victims.
While online dating frauds extract money from the victims via virtual presence, offline dating scams involve restaurants and high-end pubs. Victims are invited for a date, where the scammer appears in real life. After food and drinks are ordered, an enormous bill is generated with inflated prices for items and presented to the victim, while the “date” quickly disappears from the scene.
Foreign employment scams: According to the Bureau of Immigration under the Ministry of Home Affairs, 29,466 Indians who travelled to Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam, on visiting visas between January 2022 and May 2024 have not returned to India. Many of these individuals fell victim to employment scams that promised high-paying data entry jobs in countries like Singapore.
Victims often travel in the hope of securing employment abroad, only to be taken hostage in countries such as Cambodia or Vietnam before reaching Singapore. Here, they are held captive by Chinese agents who confiscate their passports and transport them to unknown locations. Survivor accounts reveal that these individuals are subjected to torture and are denied food unless they complete the tasks assigned to them, which typically involve committing cybercrimes against Indian citizens residing in India.
Meanwhile, there have been revelations of traditional scams, including the Valmiki Corporation scam in Karnataka and a major controversy involving Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who was indicted and served an arrest warrant by the United States for charges of forgery, defrauding American investors, and allegedly practising bribery in India to secure long-term mega projects.
Valmiki Corporation Scam: This scam came to light following the tragic suicide of a senior employee at the Karnataka government-run Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation. In his suicide note, he alleged illegal money transfers from the corporation’s account to various accounts.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has identified Karnataka Congress MLA B Nagendra as the primary accused and mastermind behind this multi-crore scam.
Allegations suggest that under Nagendra’s influence, substantial funds were misappropriated from the corporation, including around Rs 187 crore, with significant amounts diverted to fake accounts across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The investigation has revealed that these funds were siphoned off through shell accounts and used for personal expenses, including support for political candidates during elections.
Of the amount, the misappropriation of Rs 94 crore was intended for the Scheduled Tribes in Karnataka.
OctaFX Scam: In December 2024, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) named Russian national Pavel Prozorov as the principal accused in the operations of OctaFX, a forex trading platform that allegedly defrauded Indian investors of approximately Rs 800 crore.
The Mumbai ED filed a prosecution complaint against OctaFX under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), following an investigation initiated based on an FIR registered on December 8, 2021, by the Shivaji Nagar police station in Pune against multiple individuals associated with the firm.
The investigation revealed that OctaFX, owned by the 42-year-old Russian, was at the centre of a fraudulent scheme that involved collecting funds from Indian investors under the pretence of forex trading.
Within just nine months of its operations in India, the platform amassed around Rs 800 crore from unsuspecting investors. The ED’s findings indicated that OctaFX frequently changed its login URLs and web addresses to obscure its fraudulent activities, manipulated trades leading to investor losses, and diverted funds into e-wallets and fictitious accounts.
Additionally, the organisation employed fintech workers to create mule accounts linked to shell companies and fake e-commerce websites for payment gateway access.
