Govt data shows Southeast Asian countries luring Indians into cyber frauds of ₹1,500 crore a month
New Delhi: The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has revealed that most cyber fraud cases targeting Indians are being operated from Southeast Asian nations, including Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
The data, collected by the Centre under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), also indicates that these frauds are primarily linked to networks allegedly managed by Chinese operators, according to The New Indian Express.
Indians are reportedly losing an average of ₹1,300 crore to ₹1,500 crore every month to these fraudsters, sources said on Sunday.
Further data from I4C shows that online financial losses suffered by Indian citizens between January and June 2025 amounted to approximately ₹8,500 crore, with more than half the cases reportedly linked to operations based in Southeast Asia.
However, the losses are found to be lower than those recorded in 2024, when the monthly average stood at ₹2,200 crore. The decline, according to sources, is attributed to improved surveillance, international cooperation, and public awareness campaigns conducted by the I4C.
Sources also highlighted that many of these operations are run from secure facilities in countries like Cambodia and Myanmar, which often serve as hubs for large-scale digital fraud, including phishing, online investment scams, and fake job offers.
Additionally, the I4C has found that some Indian citizens are themselves involved in these criminal activities—many of them forced into participating. According to sources, individuals are often lured or trafficked abroad under false promises, and later coerced into working in call centres that target Indian users for online fraud.
The I4C continues to collaborate with international agencies and local legal bodies to detect and dismantle such networks. It also urges citizens to remain cautious of suspicious online schemes and to report cybercrimes through the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
