Cybercrime complaints are expected to exceed 25 lakh this year, with around five lakh cases explicitly mentioning brand impersonation
The report is based on a detailed analysis of 200 companies across various sectors, over 5,000 domain takedowns, data from around 16,000 instances of brand abuse, and official statistics from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), which documents cybercrime patterns and financial impacts nationwide. The projection is derived through artificial intelligence-based modelling.
“The biggest revelation from our research is the sheer scale of financial losses of over Rs 20,000 crore due to cybercrime, of which Rs 9,000 crore is due to brand name abuse alone. The fact that brand abuse is implicated in nearly one-third of all cybercrime incidents and a staggering 70 per cent of high-value scams is a wake-up call for India,” said Pavan Karthick M, Threat Intelligence Researcher at CloudSEK.
Cybercrime complaints are expected to exceed 25 lakh this year, with around five lakh cases explicitly mentioning brand impersonation.
The report builds on previous research that recorded losses of Rs 11,333 crore in the first nine months of 2024, based on I4C data. By applying advanced predictive modelling techniques to comprehensive datasets, CloudSEK projects the trajectory of these losses into 2025, providing stakeholders with actionable intelligence to combat this growing threat.
According to the CloudSEK Nexus platform’s analysis, the banking and financial services sector is expected to suffer the highest losses, estimated at Rs 8,200 crore, followed by retail and e-commerce at Rs 5,800 crore, and government services at Rs 3,400 crore.
“Investment scams (pig-butchering) and advance-fee scams are the primary drivers of financial losses,” the report said.
The report also forecasts that fraudulent domains (website names) will increase by 65 per cent, while fraudulent apps are expected to surge by 83 per cent, particularly in the financial services sector.
India experienced over 1.2 billion cyberattacks in the third quarter of 2024 alone, marking a 92 per cent rise from the previous year, according to a separate report by application security firm Indusface. The surge in cyberattacks highlights the growing need for enhanced cybersecurity measures across industries.
