Karnataka has emerged as the cybercrime capital of India, accounting for more than a quarter of all such cases registered across the country in 2023, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data released on Tuesday, September 30.
Nationally, 86,420 cybercrime cases were registered in 2023, a 31.2% jump from 65,893 in 2022. The national crime rate under this category increased from 4.8 in 2022 to 6.2 in 2023. Fraud remained the dominant motive, driving nearly 69% of cases (59,526), followed by sexual exploitation (4,199 cases, 4.9%) and extortion (3,326 cases, 3.8%).
Karnataka led with 21,889 cases, followed by Telangana (18,236) and Uttar Pradesh (10,794). While Karnataka leads in absolute numbers, Telangana had a higher crime rate — 47.8 cases per lakh population compared to Karnataka’s 32.3. Uttar Pradesh, meanwhile, fared better on chargesheeting rates, recording 45.6% against Telangana’s 20.9%.
Bengaluru alone reported 17,631 cases in 2023, nearly four out of every five cybercrimes in the state. That makes it the single most affected city in the country.
Among metros, Bengaluru contributed over half (51.9%) of all cybercrime cases across 19 cities, with Hyderabad trailing at a distant second with 4,855 cases. Bengaluru’s crime rate, 207.4 cases per lakh population, was more than seven times the national average.
The growth has been staggering: from 6,423 cases in 2021 to 9,940 in 2022, and then a leap to over 17,600 last year. Computer-related offences under Section 66 of the IT Act formed the bulk of cybercrimes nationally, with 20,468 cases (60.3%) in 2023. In Karnataka, the NCRB report shows that 18,166 cases were linked to cheating by personation and another 1,007 cases involved the transfer of obscene videos.
In 2024, Karnataka saw a marginal rise with 22,468 cases. But by mid-2025, the trend appears to have slowed, with 7,293 cases registered, at least 2,000 fewer than in the same period of 2024 and 2023, according to State Crime Records.
Despite the surge, convictions are negligible. Karnataka secured only 44 convictions in 2023 (including 11 pending from earlier years), against 60 acquittals. For Bengaluru, this translates into a conviction rate of less than 0.3%.
Cybercrime has been on a steady rise across the country over the past five years. From 27,248 cases in 2018, the numbers jumped to 44,735 in 2019, 50,035 in 2020, and 52,974 in 2021. The pace quickened in the last two years, with 65,893 cases in 2022 and a sharp spike to 86,420 cases in 2023.