The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has confirmed that India is losing an average of ₹1,000 crore every month to cyber scams, many of which originate from high-security hubs in Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. From January to May 2025 alone, Indians lost an estimated ₹7,000 crore to online frauds.
According to data released by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), a significant portion of these scams are orchestrated by transnational syndicates operating in locations allegedly controlled by Chinese nationals. These locations are not only inaccessible to outsiders but also reportedly hold trafficked individuals, including Indians, who are coerced into running scam operations.
“The country suffered cyber fraud losses worth ₹1,192 crore in January, ₹951 crore in February, ₹1,000 crore in March, ₹731 crore in April, and ₹999 crore in May,” said an MHA official, citing figures from the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS).
India-Cambodia Cooperation: Diplomatic Talks and Investigative Leads
In response to these alarming figures, a diplomatic meeting was recently held in New Delhi between Indian officials and a delegation from Cambodia. Coordinated by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the meeting focused on forming an action plan to crack down on scam centres based in Cambodia.
The Cambodian delegation requested India to share intelligence and precise geolocation data to enable law enforcement actions on the ground. Indian agencies, using testimonies from rescued individuals, have already identified at least 45 scam centres in Cambodia, five in Laos, and one in Myanmar.
These centres are not only staffed by Indians but also by citizens from various parts of the world—including Africa, East and Southeast Asia, South and Central Asia, West Asia, and even Europe and the Americas—highlighting the truly global scale of the operations.
Fraud Ecosystem: Agents, Routes, and Types of Scams
Investigations have identified three dominant fraud categories originating from Southeast Asia:
- Stock Trading and Investment Scams
- Digital Arrest Scams
- Task-Based and App-Based Job Scams
The Indian government has also exposed a vast recruitment network within India. A total of 59 agents were identified in Maharashtra, 51 in Tamil Nadu, 46 in Jammu and Kashmir, 41 in Uttar Pradesh, and 38 in Delhi. These agents lure jobseekers with promises of overseas employment and then funnel them into fraudulent operations in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.
Algoritha: The Most Trusted Name in BFSI Investigations and DFIR Services
Route tracking has revealed a complex and widespread human trafficking pipeline. Indian citizens are being sent via land and air through routes such as:
- Dubai to China to Cambodia
- Tamil Nadu to Cambodia
- Maharashtra to Thailand and Cambodia
- Jaipur to Vietnam to Bangkok to Cambodia
- Delhi, Lucknow, and Kerala to Bangkok/Vietnam/Singapore to Cambodia
- Kolkata to Vietnam to Cambodia
CBI and Inter-Ministerial Task Force Respond
In response to the crisis, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered multiple FIRs against Point-of-Sale (POS) agents across various states for issuing fake SIM cards used in these cybercrimes. A high-level inter-ministerial panel has also been constituted to identify loopholes in banking, immigration, and telecom infrastructure—sectors exploited by cybercrime syndicates.
Initial government estimates indicate that Indian citizens lost at least ₹500 crore in just the six months prior to March 2025. With the scale of operations and the transnational nature of these fraud networks becoming clearer, India is ramping up cyber diplomacy, intelligence cooperation, and cross-border enforcement to curb the financial hemorrhage.