New Delhi: A dark war is unfolding across the digital world—one driven by deception, technology, and vast transnational networks that exploit trust. At the centre of this battle stands India, not only playing a major role in the global cybercrime ecosystem but also a critical partner in the effort to dismantle it.
The 2025 Internet Crime Report released on 6 April by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reveals the staggering scale of cybercrime worldwide. Complaints were received from more than 200 countries, accounting for nearly $1.6 billion in international losses, with India ranking second in the number of complainants.
Overall, cyber-enabled crimes defrauded Americans of nearly $21 billion in 2025, with total reported losses surpassing the $20 billion mark.
“Investment-related fraud was once again the largest component of these losses, followed by business email compromises and tech support scams. The FBI continues to disrupt and deter malicious cyber actors—and shift the cost from victims to our adversaries. One example was Operation Level Up, which countered crypto investment scams. This FBI-led initiative has reduced potential losses by more than $500 million since 2024,” Jose A. Perez, operations director for criminal and cyber branch in the FBI is quoted as saying in the report.
Illegal call centres
A major component of this global crisis is the reach of illegal call centres, many of which operate out of India while targeting victims abroad.
“Two categories of call center fraud were reported to the IC3 are Tech/Customer Support and government impersonation. In 2025, the number of complaints totaled more than 80,000, with losses exceeding $2.9 billion,” the report said.
To counter this growing threat, US authorities, including the Department of Justice and the FBI, have significantly expanded cooperation with India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and local law enforcement agencies. This collaboration has placed India in the middle of global enforcement efforts against cyber-enabled financial crimes.
“In 2025, the FBI enabled approximately 175 arrests through 13 joint operations with the CBI and other local law enforcement,” the 2025 Internet Crime Report states.
“Since 2022, the FBI and CBI have had over 1,200 exchanges of information to support criminal investigations, with more than 475 arrests across 27 joint operations. The FBI has conducted hundreds of interviews and continues to support Indian law enforcement efforts to dismantle and disrupt fraudulent call centers and the prosecution of individuals in India perpetrating these frauds,” the report said.
One of the most significant outcomes of this cooperation came in December 2025, when the CBI, in a joint operation with the FBI, dismantled a large Noida-based transnational cybercrime network. The operation, codenamed ‘Operation Chakra’, led to the arrest of six individuals accused of duping more than 600 US citizens through tech-support scams and impersonation of US agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Social Security Administration.
Authorities seized cash and electronic devices and uncovered complex money laundering channels involving cryptocurrency and bank transfers. The victim who reported to the IC3 identified losses exceeding $48.7 million, prompting further investigation with inputs from the FBI’s Baltimore field office.
The scale of enforcement extended beyond the CBI and India. In November 2025, the FBI San Diego Elder Justice Task Force, along with more than 100 law enforcement personnel, executed multiple federal and state arrest and search warrants targeting members of an international elder scam network. Based on IC3 reporting, authorities identified over 500 suspected or confirmed US victims, with losses exceeding $40 million.
The modus operandi
The methods employed by such cyber crime networks reveal how deeply coordinated these operations are, with many of them based in India. In a case reported by ThePrint in March 2026, California resident Michele Finch was deceived into transferring $6.5 million between November 2022 and April 2023 after being told that her bank accounts were under threat from Russian and Chinese hackers. She was instructed to move her funds into accounts supposedly managed by the Federal Reserve.
But the money was actually routed to bank accounts in Hong Kong controlled by individuals allegedly running a fake call centre from Gurugram and Noida.
It began with a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call to Finch from a man who identified himself as Eric Wolf, a Microsoft executive. He offered to help secure her accounts. Investigators later traced key internet protocol addresses used in the scam and shared them with the CBI. The operation involved transferring funds abroad, laundering them through multiple channels, and eventually routing them back into Indian bank accounts.
The IC3 report underscores the sheer scale of cybercrime activity. IC3 received complaints from more than 200 countries in 2025, which accounts for almost $1.6 billion of the overall 2025 losses. The top countries the most complaints were Canada with 7,479 complaints, followed by India with 5879 and Japan with 5,764.
The report on cyber crime states that nearly 3,000 complaints are received each day. In 2025, the IC3 recorded a total of over 1 crore complaints, up from over 8.5 lakh in 2024. Among foreign countries, Canada recorded 7,479 complaints, followed by India with 5,879 and Japan with 5,764.
Phishing, spoofing, extortion, and investment schemes were the most frequently reported crimes. The IC3 also received approximately 4.5 lakh cyber-enabled fraud complaints, with reported losses exceeding $17.7 billion. Investment fraud alone accounted for nearly 49 per cent of all scam-related losses.
Americans over the age of 60 reported approximately $7.7 billion in losses, marking a 37 per cent increase from 2024. Cryptocurrency-related complaints were among the most damaging, with 1,81,565 cases resulting in losses exceeding $11 billion.
AI-driven crime
For the first time the report on cyber crime also introduced a dedicated section on artificial intelligence-driven crime.
“For the first time in its nearly 25-year history, the IC3 report featured a section on artificial intelligence, which accounts for 22,364 complaints, costing Americans nearly $893 million,” the FBI statement said.
These scams rely on advanced tools and psychological manipulation. Fraudsters deploy fake social media profiles, cloned voices, forged identification documents, and highly convincing videos depicting public figures or even victims’ acquaintances, often using pressure tactics to force quick financial decisions.
As cybercrime grows in complexity and reach, India’s role continues to evolve. While the country has been identified as a base for several fraudulent call centre operations, it is also emerging as a key partner in global enforcement efforts. The deepening collaboration between Indian agencies and international counterparts signals a more coordinated and determined response to a borderless threat that continues to expand in both scale and sophistication.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: Cybercrime saw 24% spike in 2025. Indians lost Rs 22,495 crore, mainly in investment scams