CHANDIGARH: After Maharashtra and the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, Haryana recorded the third-highest number of financial fraud cases in the country over the past three financial years, while Tamil Nadu ranked fourth, according to data tabled by the Union Ministry of Finance in the Lok Sabha.
In a written reply to a parliamentary question, the ministry, citing Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, said that scheduled commercial banks (excluding regional rural banks) and All India Financial Institutions reported frauds during FY 2023-24 to FY 2025-26.
Haryana reported 84,378 financial fraud cases involving ₹1,336.40 crore during the three-year period. The state recorded 25,359 cases involving ₹620.37 crore in FY 2024-25 and 3,482 cases involving ₹454.17 crore in FY 2025-26, retaining its position among the states reporting the highest number of fraud cases.
Despite the high number of cases, recoveries remained low. The state recovered ₹6.87 crore in FY 2023-24, ₹1.48 crore in FY 2024-25, and ₹50.56 crore in FY 2025-26. The ministry did not specify the reasons behind Haryana's unusually high number of reported frauds.
In terms of the total amount involved, Maharashtra topped the country with financial frauds worth ₹1,20,532 crore over the three years, followed by Delhi with ₹85,445 crore. Tamil Nadu ranked fourth with ₹69,570 crore, while Uttar Pradesh was fifth with ₹25,245 crore.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has established the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to strengthen the country's response to cybercrime. Under this framework, the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal enables citizens to report cyber offences, including cyber-enabled financial frauds.
The ministry acknowledged that recovering defrauded money remains difficult because funds are often routed through multiple accounts and jurisdictions.
The data showed that Haryana reported more fraud cases than several larger states, including West Bengal, Bihar, Karnataka and Gujarat. However, the comparatively lower value of frauds suggests that the state is witnessing a large number of low-value digital payment and UPI-related frauds rather than large corporate loan frauds.
Cybersecurity experts attributed the trend to several factors, including the rapid adoption of digital payments and UPI, Haryana's integration with the National Capital Region through business hubs such as Gurugram and Faridabad, a dense banking network, and improved public awareness that has led to higher reporting through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System.
Separately, Haryana has emerged as one of the country's better-performing states in cyber policing. According to a recent PRAGATI review chaired by Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi, the state restored defrauded money to victims at nearly five times the national average.
Against the national refund average of 8%, Haryana issued restoration orders in 38% of 14,731 cybercrime cases received till July 22, restoring ₹2.51 crore through the I4C's Money Restoration Module.
In Nuh, the state's only identified cybercrime hotspot, 491 suo motu FIRs were registered between January and July 22, 2025. Police arrested 949 cybercriminals, seized 772 mobile phones and 1,481 SIM cards, blocked 55,323 mobile numbers and 25,202 IMEIs, and conducted awareness programmes that reached 3.14 lakh people across schools, colleges, markets, bus stands, parks and social media platforms.
Additional DGP (Cyber Crime) Charu Bali said Haryana also led the country in inter-state coordination, disposing of 9,156 of 9,437 requests received through the Samanvaya Portal, a response rate of 97%.
Since the rollout of the e-Zero FIR system on June 25, all Dial 1930 complaints involving losses above ₹1 lakh have been routed to jurisdictional cyber police stations.
The state has registered 233 e-Zero FIRs, of which 204 have been converted into regular FIRs. Haryana Police also intensified unlawful content takedowns through the Sahyog Portal, removing 5,169 URLs in 2025, while 15,853 URLs were removed between January 1 and July 22, she said.