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Over ₹7,000 crore lost to cyber scams in Jan–May 2025; half traced to SE Asia.
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Scams operated from Chinese-run compounds in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar.
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Govt identifies 45 scam hubs in Cambodia; CBI probes agents, fake SIM networks.
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 15th July: A major chunk of the ₹7,000 crore lost by Indian citizens to cyber scams in the first five months of 2025 has been traced to organised fraud networks operating out of Southeast Asia, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a new assessment.
The cybercrime networks, primarily located in Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, are reportedly run from fortified locations under the control of Chinese operators, with trafficked victims—including Indians—forced into these digital crime factories.
According to data from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), India is losing nearly ₹1,000 crore every month to these overseas cyber syndicates. In just five months:
- January saw losses of ₹1,192 crore,
- February ₹951 crore,
- March ₹1,000 crore,
- April ₹731 crore,
- May ₹999 crore.
A senior government official told The Indian Express that during a recent meeting between Cambodian and Indian officials in Delhi—facilitated by the Ministry of External Affairs—an action plan was discussed to counter these scam centres. Cambodia has asked India to share exact coordinates of the scam hubs for targeted action.
The Indian government has identified 45 scam centres in Cambodia, five in Laos, and one in Myanmar. These centres are not only staffed by Indians, but also house victims trafficked from Africa, East and Southeast Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, and even Europe and the Americas.
The MHA’s analysis categorises the frauds into three broad types:
- Stock trading and investment scams
- Digital arrest scams, where victims are intimidated by fake law enforcement calls
- Task-based frauds, promising easy online income to lure individuals
Additionally, the government has tracked recruitment agents operating across India. Maharashtra topped the list with 59 agents, followed by Tamil Nadu (51), Jammu and Kashmir (46), Uttar Pradesh (41), and Delhi (38). These agents primarily facilitate illegal job placements in Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.
Earlier this year, it was reported that over 5,000 Indians were trapped in Cambodia, held against their will and coerced into executing online scams. The Centre responded by forming an inter-ministerial task force, which identified vulnerabilities in India’s banking, immigration, and telecom systems. Subsequently, the CBI registered an FIR against PoS agents for enabling ghost SIM cards used in the scams.
Investigations also traced the routes taken by Indian victims to reach Southeast Asia. Agents reportedly routed them via:
- Dubai to China to Cambodia
- Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala, and Kolkata to Vietnam, Thailand, or Singapore, then on to Cambodia
- Jaipur and Lucknow to Thailand and Cambodia
With this growing transnational cybercrime threat, the Indian government is working with multiple Southeast Asian nations to rescue victims, plug security loopholes, and dismantle the scam networks targeting Indian citizens.
