Indians lost Rs 22,845 crore to cyber fraud in one year and only 6 percent recovered, are scammers running free?

The Ministry of Home Affairs told Parliament that Indians lost over Rs 22,845 crore to cyber fraud in just 2024. A 206 percent jump from the previous year. Let that sink in. 22,845 crore. In one year. Gone. And the govt expects us to feel safe using UPI and digital banking? Over 36 lakh fraud cases were reported through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. 36 lakh. That is more than the population of many Indian cities. And these are just the reported cases. Most people do not report cyber fraud because they are embarrassed or they think nothing will happen. Investment scams accounted for 75 percent of all money lost. 75 percent. Ordinary people who wanted to earn a bit extra got scammed. They saw an ad on Instagram or a message on WhatsApp promising high returns. They put in their savings. And it vanished. Digital arrest scams are the new big thing. Scammers call you pretending to be from the police or CBI or ED. They say you are under digital arrest. They keep you on a video call for hours. They make you show your bank accounts. They threaten you with arrest if you do not transfer money. And people are falling for it. Educated people. Professionals. Because the scammers are that convincing. Sextortion is another growing threat. Scammers befriend you on dating apps, get compromising photos or videos, and then blackmail you for lakhs of rupees. Fake loan apps charge exorbitant interest and access your contacts and gallery to blackmail you. The I4C found that 45 percent of these scams originate from Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia and Myanmar. 45 percent. Almost half the scams targeting Indians are run from outside India. And here is the darkest part. These scam centres use trafficked Indians. Young people who went looking for jobs abroad are forced to work in these scam centres under threat of violence. They are beaten, starved, and made to scam their own countrymen. The govt has blocked over 9 lakh SIM cards and 2.6 lakh IMEIs. But scammers keep finding new ways. They use virtual numbers. They use WhatsApp from abroad. They use proxy servers. Every time the govt blocks one method, scammers find three new ones. Only 6 percent of fraud money is ever recovered. 6 percent. If you lose Rs 1 lakh to a scam, you are getting back Rs 6,000 if you are lucky. Most likely you get nothing. The police are overwhelmed. Most police stations do not have trained cyber crime officers. The complaint process is complicated. The investigation takes months. By the time anything happens, the money is gone. Are cybercriminals just running freely in India without any real fear of consequences?