NEW DELHI: India’s national cybercrime helpline 1930 recorded a massive surge in 2025, logging nearly 3.24 crore calls, almost one every second, highlighting a sharp rise in online fraud and scams, officials said.
Officials, however, also revealed that more than 9.42 lakh SIM cards were blocked during the year, as cybercriminals increasingly relied on fraudulent calls and messages to extract sensitive personal and financial information. The near-constant ringing of the helpline underscores the scale and urgency of the growing cyber threat in the country, they added.
Data from the past three years shows a steep and sustained increase in complaints. Calls to the helpline rose from 96.4 lakh in 2023 to 2.21 crore in 2024, before climbing further to 3.24 crore in 2025, the officials said.
While the year-on-year growth rate moderated from 130 percent in 2024 to 46.4 percent in 2025, the total number of complaints continued to expand significantly and these figures were also presented at a recent high-level review meeting of senior officials, they noted.
On a daily basis, the helpline handled an average of 88,976 calls in 2025, compared to 26,411 calls in 2023, which marked more than a threefold increase in just two years, the officials said, adding that the number, which is overseen by the central government, is operated by state police departments and serves as a critical interface for reporting cybercrime incidents.
Attributing the surge to both a rise in cybercrime and increased public awareness about reporting mechanisms, the officials said, with more Indians adopting digital payments, online services and smartphones, cybercriminals are exploiting vulnerabilities at a larger scale. Common complaints include financial fraud, identity theft, phishing schemes and social media account hacking, they noted.
The helpline has emerged as a crucial first-response system, particularly in financial fraud cases where timely reporting can help authorities freeze stolen funds. But, the overwhelming volume of calls is also placing significant strain on existing infrastructure, the officials said, adding: “The scale of calls shows two things - cybercrime is rising and people are reporting more. Both are important signals.””
According to the officials, responding to the newer challenges, the government is preparing a multi-pronged strategy to strengthen the cybercrime response framework, as it plans to include expanding cyber police stations across states and Union Territories, improving interstate coordination, and targeting organised and cross-border fraud networks through dedicated platforms.
More to these, they said that efforts are underway to upgrade the 1930 helpline with better-trained personnel, standardised staffing norms and enhanced operational capacity, attention is also given to data-driven awareness campaigns, encouraging states to analyse complaint patterns and develop targeted prevention strategies.