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Faced with a sharp rise in cyber fraud cases and mounting financial losses suffered by citizens, the Bihar Police has constituted a separate cyber intelligence unit under its Economic Offences Unit (EOU) to proactively track, analyse and crack down on digital criminals operating across the state.
Senior officials said the newly created intelligence vertical has been tasked with pre-empting cyber crimes, identifying emerging fraud patterns and strengthening intelligence-led policing in the digital domain. Since becoming operational, the unit has already arrested 171 individuals allegedly involved in various forms of cyber fraud, signalling an aggressive shift in Bihar Police’s approach to tackling online crime.
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Tracking Patterns, Not Just Complaints
Unlike traditional cybercrime investigation models that focus largely on individual complaints, the new unit operates by studying crime patterns and digital behaviour trends. Officers analyse suspicious mobile numbers, websites, mobile applications and links circulating on social media platforms to identify networks engaged in digital fraud.
According to a senior EOU officer, the unit systematically segregates and catalogues cybercrime incidents, allowing investigators to identify repeat patterns, common technical infrastructure and organised networks behind seemingly unrelated fraud cases. “This intelligence-led approach helps us move from reactive policing to preventive action,” the officer said.
Telecom and Tech Platforms Key to Investigations
The cyber intelligence unit works closely with telecom companies, internet service providers and social media platforms to trace digital footprints left behind by cyber criminals. With support from these stakeholders, the unit has so far identified around 9,300 mobile numbers and more than 4,000 IMEI numbers suspected to be linked with fraudulent activities.
Officials said that tracking IMEI numbers — the unique 15-digit identification code assigned to mobile devices — has helped law enforcement map the movement and reuse of devices across different fraud cases, often spanning multiple districts and states.
Crackdown on SIM Box and Fake Website Rackets
The unit has also played a key role in exposing SIM box operations, a sophisticated technique used to route international calls through internet-based systems and convert them into local calls. These setups are frequently used in call-centre scams and impersonation frauds, making them harder to trace.
In addition, investigators have dismantled several fake websites and phishing portals designed to steal personal data, banking credentials and one-time passwords (OTPs) from unsuspecting users. Officials noted that such websites often mimic government portals, banks or popular e-commerce platforms to gain victims’ trust.
Support from Central Cyber Agencies
To strengthen inter-state and national coordination, the Bihar Police cyber intelligence unit works closely with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), a central government platform developed by the Ministry of Home Affairs to combat digital fraud.
Through I4C and the Joint Cybercrime Coordination Team (JCCT), the unit receives real-time inputs on cyber criminals operating across state borders, including details such as names, addresses, mobile numbers and case histories. This coordination has proved crucial in tackling fraud networks that operate simultaneously in multiple states.
Scale of Cybercrime in Bihar
Data from the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal underscores the scale of the challenge. Bihar has reported over 24.38 lakh fraud calls and 1.10 lakh cybercrime complaints so far. Additionally, police have taken cognisance of more than 24,000 complaints related to suspicious content on social media platforms and other online media.
According to official estimates, cyber criminals cheated people in Bihar of approximately ₹500 crore in 2025 alone. Of this amount, about ₹106 crore was successfully frozen or held in suspicious bank accounts during investigations. However, only ₹7.36 crore has been returned to victims so far, highlighting the difficulty of fund recovery once money is laundered through multiple accounts.
Shift Towards Intelligence-Driven Policing
Senior police officials say the formation of a dedicated cyber intelligence unit reflects Bihar Police’s recognition that cybercrime is no longer a fringe or urban-only issue, but a serious economic and social threat affecting ordinary citizens.
“With cyber fraud becoming more organised and technology-driven, policing also needs to evolve,” an officer said. “This unit is designed to stay ahead of criminals, not chase them after the damage is done.”
As cyber fraud networks grow increasingly complex and interconnected, Bihar Police’s intelligence-led model may emerge as a template for other states grappling with the rising tide of digital crime.
