Tamil Nadu’s cyber crime count in the NCRB series runs to a few thousand cases a year. Complaints to the national fraud reporting system run to tens of thousands. Reading the two together shows how much online crime never becomes an FIR, and how little money comes back.
The numbers
In 2023, people in Tamil Nadu filed 59,549 complaints on the Centre’s Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System, reporting ₹661.23 crore lost, according to a Lok Sabha answer of 6 February 2024. That is nearly 29 times the 2,082 cyber crime cases the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recorded for the state in 2022, the latest year in the December 2023 reply on cyber crime cases.
The two numbers measure different things. NCRB counts FIRs registered under cyber crime heads; the fraud reporting system counts complaints made through the 1930 helpline and cybercrime.gov.in, most of which are about money and many of which never become an FIR. Treating either as “the” cyber crime figure misleads.
What the NCRB series shows
| Year | Tamil Nadu cases | Chargesheeted (TN) | All India cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 385 | 113 | 44,735 |
| 2020 | 782 | 135 | 50,035 |
| 2021 | 1,076 | 147 | 52,974 |
| 2022 | 2,082 | not given | 65,893 |
Source: NCRB Crime in India data in Lok Sabha Unstarred Questions No. 3307 (21 March 2023) and No. 1432 (12 December 2023), Ministry of Home Affairs
Tamil Nadu’s registered cases rose more than fivefold between 2019 and 2022, but from a low base: the state accounted for about 3.2 per cent of India’s cyber crime cases in 2022. Karnataka recorded 12,020 cases in 2019 alone and Telangana 10,303 in 2021, according to the March 2023 answer. Low registration in Tamil Nadu reflects how complaints are recorded as much as how much crime occurs.
Outcomes are thin. Of 1,076 cases registered in 2021, 147 were chargesheeted that year and 6 ended in conviction. Nationally, 18,744 of 52,974 cases (35 per cent) were chargesheeted. Cases registered specifically as fraud for cyber crime in Tamil Nadu were 5 in 2020, 107 in 2021 and 251 in 2022, according to NCRB tables released through PIB.
What the complaint data shows
The fraud reporting system tells a much larger story. Tamil Nadu’s 59,549 complaints in 2023 were about 5.3 per cent of the national total of 11,28,265. Money was frozen (“put on lien”) in 17,941 of those complaints, totalling ₹69.81 crore, roughly 11 per cent of the amount reported lost. Nationally the lien amount was ₹921.60 crore against ₹7,488.64 crore reported, about 12 per cent.
The state police’s own figures, in the Police Policy Note 2023-24, run on a different period but point the same way: between 1 January 2022 and 31 March 2023 the Cyber Crime Wing received 80,148 complaints involving ₹372.37 crore lost, froze ₹158.03 crore and returned ₹30.91 crore to victims, about 8 per cent of the loss.
Rise in cyber complaints received in Greater Chennai, from 748 in 2011 to 13,077 in 2021, according to the Police Policy Note 2022-23.
Other large states report more on both measures. The same February 2024 answer gives these 2023 figures from the fraud reporting system.
| State, 2023 | Complaints | Reported lost (₹ crore) | Frozen (₹ crore) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tamil Nadu | 59,549 | 661.23 | 69.81 |
| Karnataka | 64,301 | 662.10 | 73.16 |
| Telangana | 71,426 | 759.06 | 131.38 |
| Maharashtra | 1,25,153 | 990.69 | 103.08 |
| All India | 11,28,265 | 7,488.64 | 921.60 |
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs, Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 509, 6 February 2024 (Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System; source figures in ₹ lakh, converted)
Arrests track registrations, not complaints. Tamil Nadu police arrested 400 people in cyber crime cases in 2019, 516 in 2020 and 612 in 2021, and 10, 9 and 8 people respectively were convicted in those years, according to the March 2023 answer.
How the police are organised for it
Tamil Nadu set up 46 cyber crime police stations, one in each district and commissionerate plus units for crimes against women and children and economic offences, which began registering FIRs in April 2021. By the time of the 2022-23 policy note they had registered 1,754 FIRs and arrested 311 accused. The state’s cyber fraud helpline number changed to 1930 on 24 January 2022, and a 24-hour control room at the Cyber Crime Wing headquarters takes those calls. In 2022 the wing blocked 85 websites, 46 YouTube videos and 211 fake apps and arrested 30 accused from other states. Greater Chennai’s cyber units returned ₹6.75 crore to complainants in the months before the 2022-23 note was prepared. Nationally, police reports had led to more than 3.2 lakh SIM cards and 49,000 phone IMEIs being blocked by February 2024.
It’s often said NCRB figures show how much cyber fraud Tamil Nadu has.
The record shows They show FIRs, not complaints. In 2023 the national fraud reporting system logged 59,549 complaints from Tamil Nadu, while NCRB counted 2,082 cyber crime cases in the state the year before.
Why speed decides recovery
The freeze-and-return numbers explain the official advice to call 1930 immediately. Money can be frozen only while it is still in the banking chain; once it is withdrawn or moved abroad, the lien system cannot reach it. Nationally, the Home Ministry said in February 2024 that over ₹1,200 crore had been saved across more than 4.7 lakh complaints since the reporting system began. For Tamil Nadu complainants in 2023, the frozen amount was about a tenth of what was reported lost.
A gap remains in the public record: NCRB publishes city-level cyber crime tables for metropolitan cities, but the parliamentary answers used here give only state totals, so a like-for-like Chennai series from NCRB is not reproduced in this article.
What this means for you
- Call 1930 or file on cybercrime.gov.in within the first hour of a fraud; recovery depends on freezing money before it moves.
- Ask for an FIR or a CSR number at your district or city cyber crime police station; a portal complaint alone may not become a case.
- Keep transaction IDs, UPI references and screenshots; the freeze request needs them.
- Expect partial recovery at best: about a tenth of reported losses were frozen for Tamil Nadu complainants in 2023.
What to watch
Pending
The next NCRB Crime in India edition, which will extend the state and metropolitan city cyber crime tables.
Pending
Updated state figures on complaints, frozen amounts and refunds in the Police department’s next policy note.
Checked against official sources on 23 October 2026. Figures and rules change; confirm on the linked official pages before relying on them.
Sources
- Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 509, Cases of Cyber Frauds, Ministry of Home Affairs, 6 February 2024
- Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1432, Cyber Crime Cases, Ministry of Home Affairs, 12 December 2023
- Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3307, Cyber Crimes/Frauds, Ministry of Home Affairs, 21 March 2023
- State/UT-wise cases registered under cyber crimes and cyber fraud, 2020-2022 (NCRB tables), PIB, 2025
- Policy Note 2023-24, Police (Demand No. 22), Home, Prohibition and Excise Department, Government of Tamil Nadu
- Policy Note 2022-23, Police (Demand No. 22), Government of Tamil Nadu
