Bhubaneswar, March 9: Despite sustained government efforts to raise public awareness, cybercriminals continue to spread their activities across the state, defrauding unsuspecting individuals and stealing crores of rupees, according to official data.
Responding to a question in the Odisha Assembly, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi stated on Monday that 4,238 cases of cybercrime involving fraud amounting to over Rs 260.61 crore were registered at police stations across the state between June 1, 2024, and December 31, 2025.
Of these cases, 2,482 involved financial fraud, 1,689 involved fraud on social media, 14 involved hacking, and 53 involved other types of cyber fraud.
CM Majhi further noted that the Odisha Police had arrested 868 cyber fraudsters during the last 18 months, including 172 for involvement in financial fraud cases, 638 in social media fraud cases, one in a hacking-related fraud case, and 57 in different other types of cyber fraud cases.
During this period, the police were able to recover and return a small amount of Rs 61.36 lakh to the victims, and have also ensured the freezing of another Rs 8.89 crore.
In addition, the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) received 27,368 and 49,426 complaints from the state from June to the end of December 2024 and during 2025, respectively.
According to the portal, the fraudsters defrauded over Rs 711.99 crore from unsuspecting victims from June 1, 2024, to December 31, 2025.
“During the period from June 1 to December 31, 2024, out of the reported cyber fraud cases reported in the NCRP portal, an amount of Rs. 2,47,87,268 was successfully returned to the victims, while a substantial sum of Rs. 23,64,30,768 was promptly put on hold in suspect bank accounts through coordinated action with financial institutions and payment intermediaries,” said CM Majhi.
The Chief Minister also added that in 2025, sustained enforcement efforts helped return Rs 5,31,45,886 to complainants, while Rs 68.71 crore was secured by timely freezing identified fraudulent accounts, preventing further diversion of funds and protecting victims’ interests.