Rs 5,474 Lost: Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara Reveals Shocking Cyber Crime Statistics

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday revealed shocking cyber fraud numbers in a statement, saying that in Karnataka alone, individuals have lost about Rs 5,474 crore to about 57,000 crimes.

Furthermore, he mentioned that the police recovered only Rs 627 crore from the total lost pot of Rs 5,474 crore.  

Based on these numbers, Parameshwara called cyber fraud a significant challenge for the state and India.

Outlining his evidence in the form of statistics, he mentioned that in 2023, over 22,000 cyber fraud cases were filed, of which only a limited number were identified. Subsequently, it led to a Rs 873 crore loss, of which only Rs 177 crore was recovered.    

Previously, the Karnataka Home Minister had also reported approximately 52,000 cyber fraud cases in Karnataka over four years.

He outlined cybercrime incidents in 2024, which led to losses exceeding Rs 2,500 crore across roughly 22,400 cases. Authorities recovered over Rs 300 crore linked to cyber fraud losses in 2024.    

Parameshwara’s statistics show cyber fraud cases falling to roughly 13,000 in 2025 following government countermeasures. While losses rose above Rs 2,000 crore, while recoveries reached Rs 125 crore.    

He released the figures during his reply to BJP MLA Cement Manju in the Legislative Assembly, a BJP MLA from Sakleshpur, who was speaking about the recurrent phenomenon of people between the ages of 16-35 falling for online betting games.

His worry over cyber fraud was further emphasised when he pointed out that the Karnataka government’s plans to curb cyber fraud were through introducing an amendment to the police laws.

The former BJP government amended the Karnataka Police Act in 2021 to prohibit online games. However, the Online India Gaming Federation filed a petition on the basis of which Karnataka’s High Court struck down the amendment in 2022.

As a result, the Online India Gaming Federation secured a stay on the amendment. The government challenged the stay before the Supreme Court, and the matter is now listed for 19 December 2025.

The Centre has since banned all online gaming involving real money nationwide. The ban comes from the landmark Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 which was passed in August which seeks to shield “citizens from the menace of online money games while promoting and regulating other kinds of online games.”

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