WEF Calls Cyber Fraud ‘Pervasive’ Threat as India Faces Rising Scam Losses

77 percent of 804 participants surveyed by the WEF noted an increased risk of cyber fraud and phishing in 2025.

The WEF has flagged cyber fraud and scams as one of the most pervasive threats in 2026.

(Photo: The Quint)

A recent report on global cybersecurity by the World Economic Forum (WEF) called cyber fraud "one of the most pervasive global threats" in 2026.

In a survey they conducted, 77 percent of 804 participants from 92 countries, which included C-suite executives, academics, civil society and public-sector cybersecurity leaders, said that they noted an increased risk of cyber-enabled fraud and phishing in 2025.

The report marks cyber fraud as one of the most prevalent threats.

(Source: WEF/Screenshot)

While C-suiters were most concerned about ransomware attacks in 2025, their priorities shifted for 2026, "with cyber-enabled fraud and phishing taking the top spot and AI vulnerabilities emerging second," the report said.

Their concerns are echoed in India's reality. In a press note from October 2025, titled 'Curbing Cyber Frauds in Digital India', the government noted that multiple fraud reports mentioned 'spoofing', cases where criminals impersonate trusted sources.

In addition to this, they noted a rise in cases of "deepfakes leveraging AI (Artificial Intelligence) and phishing," which amplified the overall impact of scams.

It said that in 2025, the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), established under the Ministry of Home Affairs, had  proactively blocked 3,962 Skype IDs and 83,668 WhatsApp accounts linked to cyber frauds.

How Were Indians Impacted in 2025?

In a response to a question on 2 December 2025 in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affair Bandi Sanjay said that the as per I4C and National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) data, Indians had lost over Rs 32,600 crore to financial fraud.

This data has been sourced from a Lok Sabha response.

(Source: The Quint)

Citing I4C data, The Indian Express noted that Indians fell prey to multiple digitally enabled cyber scams and fraud, with over 21.77 lakh complaints and losses adding to over 19,812 crore rupees in 2025 alone.

I4C's cyber digests carried reports and data from different states and cities, noting the prevalance, impact, and losses caused due to cyber scams and fraud. Here are some examples of the data we found:

• Cyber fraud amounting to 768.7 crore rupees was reported across Rajasthan, and around 2.5 lakh suspicious mobile numbers and IMEIs were blocked by state police under targeted operations.

• In Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur, losses due to cyber fraud reached Rs 45.95 crore in 2025, with more than 650 cases registered and 353 arrests.

• In Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, citizens lost 87.16 crore rupees to cyber fraudsters in 2025. The police registered 9,960 cases of cyber crime, of which 7,779 cases were related to online financial fraud, including phishing, fake links, malicious mobile applications, and social engineering scams.

• Maharashtra's Nagpur saw 45.77 crore rupees in losses, with nearly 60 percent of the victims being senior citizens.

• Hyderabad Police recorded a loss of 33.81 crore rupees in 86 cases of digital fraud in 2025.

• Uttar Pradesh Police froze 325.25 crore rupees siphoned off in financial cyber fraud cases during 2025. The digest noted that the "amount accounts for nearly a quarter of the total money lost by victims" in the state, bringing the total to approximately 1,300 crore rupees.

• In Kerala, people lost 814 crore rupees in 2025 in 42,504 detected cases of cyber fraud.

• 8,126 people lost over 100 crore rupees through various online scams in Madhya Pradesh's Indore.

• Kashmir's Cyber Crime Centre reported a loss of 4.93 crore rupees in 2025.

Other Parliament responses, such as one by the Minister of State for the Ministry of Finance Pankaj Chaudhary on 15 December 2025, also discussed losses during to UPI-related scams and fraud.

Between January and November 2025, Indians lost 805 crore rupees to UPI payment frauds in over 10.6 lakh cases, the minister informed the Parliament.

Complete data for nationwide statistics for 2025 has not been publicly released by any official sources yet.

Stay Informed, Stay Safe

The Quint, in its ongoing 'Scamguard' series, has been actively dissecting the wide variety of scams and fraud which come up to target Indians online.

Our detailed analysis of different types of scams, ranging from WhatsApp IPO groups, registration for HSRP plates, digital arrests, and fake India Post messages can be seen on our Youtube playlist.

Apart from helping spread awareness, we also help you protect yourself if you find that your personal data has been leaked on the internet. Learn what you can do here.

For easy information at your fingertips, you can also interact with our WhatsApp chatbot to access these resources or tell us about any scam or fraud you might have faced by contacting us on [phone].