 "Indians lost Rs 7,000 cr in 5 months to Chinese-controlled cyber fraud network of 5 countries")
Indians have lost the most money to Chinese-controlled cyber criminals operating out of Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand in the first five months of 2025.
According to a report by the Indian Express, citing data by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), a unit under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Indians have lost approximately Rs 7,000 crore to online scams.
The agency said that these scams have often been traced back to high-security locations, reportedly run by China, where trafficked people, including Indians, are forced to be involved in the fraud.
An analysis of cyber frauds this year shows that they are increasingly targeting the Indian economy, with the country losing an estimated Rs 1,000 crore each month to these crimes.
“In January, Rs 1,192 crore was lost to Southeast Asia-based countries, Rs 951 crore in February, Rs 1,000 crore in March, Rs 731 crore in April and Rs 999 crore in May," an official said.
Meanwhile, senior government officials met their Cambodian counterparts recently in Delhi to discuss an action plan to combat online scams targeting Indians, an official told IE. During the meeting, Cambodian officials requested the exact geographical coordinates of these scam centres to take further action.
The official said, “With the help of intelligence agencies and testimonies of rescued people, the Indian government has identified at least 45 such scam compounds in Cambodia, five in Laos, and one in Myanmar. It also came to the fore that, apart from Indians, people from African countries, East Asia countries, Southeast Asia countries, South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, Europe/North America and South America were also identified in these scam compounds.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsA probe into the online fraud has revealed that three main types of scams originate from Southeast Asia: stock trading/investment scams, digital arrest, and task-based and investment-based scams.
Government estimates indicate that Indians lost at least ₹500 crore to cyber fraud in the six months leading up to March this year. In response, the Centre formed an inter-ministerial panel to investigate the issue and pinpoint vulnerabilities.
The panel identified significant gaps in the banking, immigration, and telecom sectors. Following these findings, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed an FIR against point-of-sale (PoS) agents across several states for allegedly issuing ghost SIM cards.
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