NEW DELHI: India has emerged as one of the world’s biggest sources of cross-border cyber scams, with fraudulent call centres and sprawling criminal networks inflicting billions of dollars in losses on victims across the United States and other Western countries, according to The Diplomat.
Research by the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur estimates that fraud linked to Indian call centres costs victims around $10 billion worldwide each year, particularly in the US, UK, Australia and Canada.
Cryptocurrency “pig-butchering” scams in India alone caused more than $3.6 billion in losses in 2024, while traceable losses suffered by US victims linked directly to India reached $42 million between 2023 and 2025.
India Cyber Scam Hotspots
The report identifies the Jamtara-Mewat belt as a major centre of cybercrime. It says Bharatpur in Rajasthan accounts for 18 per cent of reported cases nationally, while the wider Mewat region accounts for another 11 per cent.
Together with Jamtara, these areas are reported to source roughly 80 per cent of India’s cases.
The scams range from fake technical-support calls and government impersonation to so-called “digital arrests”, in which criminals pose as police or other officials to pressure victims into transferring money.
The networks increasingly rely on sophisticated infrastructure, including internet-based calling systems, cryptocurrencies, mule bank accounts and fraudulently obtained SIM cards.
Indian authorities have been mounting large-scale crackdowns. In April, Delhi Police arrested 660 suspects and registered 499 cases during a 48-hour cybercrime operation spanning more than 20 states and union territories.
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Investigators linked ₹519 crore in fraud to accounts and networks targeted in the operation.
West Bengal authorities separately arrested 107 people during the first seven days of a recent cybercrime crackdown and raided suspected fake call centres.
US Victims Lose Billions
The United States has suffered particularly heavy losses. The Diplomat analysis, citing FBI data, says US fraud complaints exceeded one million in 2025, with total losses surpassing $20 billion. Technical-support scam losses alone were estimated at around $2.1 billion.
Older Americans have been especially vulnerable. In 2024, people aged 60 and above reported 147,000 complaints involving $4.8 billion in losses, according to figures cited in the analysis.
The report argues that unemployment, English-speaking labour, weak local enforcement and the economic dependence of some poorer communities on scam operations have allowed the problem to persist despite repeated law-enforcement crackdowns.
