Residents lose ₹1,054 crore, Police recover less than 1% in Madhya Pradesh

A shocking revelation has emerged from the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, highlighting a "cyber emergency" in the state. Residents have lost a staggering ₹1,054 crore to cyber frauds over the past four years, yet state police have only been able to recover a paltry ₹1.94 crore, a recovery rate of less than 0.2 per cent. The alarming figures, disclosed in a state government response to a question by Congress MLA Jaivardhan Singh, underscore a widening gap between the surge in digital crime and the state's capacity to combat it.

The data, spanning from May 2021 to July 2025, details losses from various scams including phishing, OTP frauds, job scams, and social media impersonation. While a sum of ₹105 crore was successfully frozen in suspect accounts, the amount returned to victims remains a small fraction. Further exposing a systemic breakdown, the home department's data shows that out of 1,193 FIRs registered since 2020, charge sheets have been filed in only 585 cases, with the rest still pending or dismissed. The resolution rate for these cases has also seen a sharp decline, dropping from 70 per cent in 2022 to a mere 27 per cent so far in 2025.

Social media misuse has been identified as the biggest driver of this cybercrime wave, accounting for up to 53 per cent of cases in recent years. Frauds related to cyberbullying, sextortion, and impersonation on platforms like Facebook and Instagram are particularly prevalent. The youth are the most vulnerable, comprising over two-thirds of all victims in 2025. According to the government's reply, banking fraud constitutes the second-biggest chunk of cybercrime. The numbers indicate that without a serious focus on training, resources, and accountability, the state's cybercrime control apparatus is no match for the sophistication of digital criminals.