The number of cyber crimes reported in India in 2022 has increased by 24.4% compared to 2021, according to the latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Monday, December 4. Telangana reported the highest number of cyber crimes at 15,297, followed by Karnataka (12,556) and Uttar Pradesh (10,117). Mizoram has recorded the least number, which is one registered case. The total number of cases registered in India in 2022 stands at 65,893, as compared to 52,974 in 2021. Rate of cyber crimes has increased to 4.8 from 3.9 in 2021. Cyber crime rate is calculated as crime incidence per one lakh of the population.
The data also reported that the number of cyber crimes has increased in all south Indian states compared to 2021, with the highest increase in Telangana. The state has reported close to more than 5,000 cases compared to 2021. Among the five southern states, Kerala has recorded the lowest number of cyber crimes - 773, while Andhra Pradesh reported 2,341 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu (2,082).
The total number of cases registered in Union Territories (UT) is 986, in which Delhi topped with 685 cases, followed by Jammu and Kashmir (173). Coming to the metro cities of India, 19 metro cities have shown an increase in the number of cyber crimes, including Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. According to the data, a total of 24,420 cyber crime cases have been registered in the 19 cities, which is an increase of 42.7% compared to 2021, when the number of cases were 17,115. Bengaluru has reported the highest number of cases - 9,940, followed by Mumbai (4,724) and Hyderabad (4,436). Kozhikode in Kerala and Indore in Madhya Pradesh had the lowest numbers, 37 cases each.
Further, the data also revealed that the highest number of cases (12,213) registered are under the category of ‘computer related offences’ (section 66 of IT Act), and the top three main motives seem to be fraud (42,315), extortion (3,625), and sexual exploitation (3,348).
As many as 14,409 cyber crimes were committed against women, in which Karnataka topped with 3,904 cases and followed by Maharashtra (2,530) and Telangana (1,262). Mizoram, Lakshadweep (UT), and Ladakh (UT) have not reported any cyber crime cases against women. The cyber crime cases against women include cyber blackmailing /threatening, cyber pornography/hosting/publishing obscene sexual materials, cyber stalking/cyber bullying, defamation/morphing, fake profile and other crimes against women.
The data also said that 1,823 cyber crimes were reported against children, of which 239 were from Karnataka, 182 each from Kerala and Rajasthan. No cyber crimes against children were reported in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Bihar, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura Ladak (UT), and Lakshadweep (UT). Cyber crimes against children are categorised into cyber blackmailing / threatening/ harassment, fake profile, cyber pornography/ hosting or publishing obscene sexual materials depicting children, cyber stalking/ bullying, internet crimes through online games, and other crimes against children.