Telangana second only to Karnataka in cyber crimes; Hyderabad among worst-hit metros

Telangana has reported the second highest number of cyber crime cases in India in 2023, with 18,236 incidents, trailing only Karnataka, which recorded 21,889 cases. This represents a 19.23% increase from 15,297 cases in 2022 and a staggering 77% rise from 10,303 cases in 2021.

The State accounted for 21.1% of the 86,420 cyber cases reported across India, highlighting its position as the country’s epicentre of digital offences. With a crime rate of 47.8 per one lakh population, Telangana reported a relatively low chargesheet rate of 20.9 in 2023. Among States, only Assam (18.3), Karnataka (18.1), Nagaland (16.7), Meghalaya (7.5) and Arunachal Pradesh (2.35) had lower rates, while Mizoram reported a perfect 100% chargesheet rate.

Fraud remained the largest category of cyber crimes in Telangana, with 10,626 cases. This included 4,223 OTP frauds, 1,868 online banking frauds, 855 linked to credit and debit cards, 1,097 involving online banking, and 580 ATM-related frauds. Cheating followed with 6,384 cases. Other offences included 13 cases of data theft, 263 incidents of cyberstalking and bullying of women and children, 213 cases of cyber blackmailing or threats, 98 instances of fake news on social media and 47 fake profiles.

Hyderabad alone reported 4,855 cyber crime cases in 2023, marking a 9.45% increase from 4,436 cases in 2022. The city emerged as one of the worst-hit metros after Bengaluru, which topped the charts with 17,631 cases. Hyderabad’s crime rate stood at 62.7 per lakh population, while its chargesheeting rate remained low at just 17.3%, among the lowest of India’s major metropolitan cities.

Within Hyderabad, fraud constituted the bulk of cases, with 4,076 incidents reported. This included 2,858 OTP frauds, 211 credit/debit card frauds, 156 ATM-related frauds, and 709 online banking frauds. Cyberstalking and bullying accounted for 163 cases, while blackmailing and threatening made up 152 cases. The city also recorded 110 cases of publication or transmission of obscene material, 96 cases of cheating by personation, and 97 identity theft cases.

Mumbai followed with 4,131 cases (chargesheet rate 21.6%), and Lucknow reported 1,453 cases (chargesheet rate 19.0%).