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Over 30,000 individuals have been victims of investment fraud in major cities during the last six months, leading to financial losses of more than Rs 1,500 crore, as reported by the cyber division of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Most of these victims were between the ages of 30 and 60, with Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, and Hyderabad making up nearly 65 percent of the incidents. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has pinpointed Bengaluru as the city with the highest financial impact, being responsible for more than a quarter (26.38 percent) of the total losses. These cities have turned into key areas for cybercriminals targeting unaware investors. An examination of the affected groups shows that the majority are working-age adults. People aged 30 to 60 constitute over 76 percent of all those targeted, highlighting a trend where fraudsters take advantage of the financial goals of individuals in their peak earning years.

Elders are also becoming more frequent targets, with 8.62 percent, or around 2,829 people, being over 60. The scams reported are not small but involve large amounts of money. The average loss for each victim is about Rs 51.38 lakh, suggesting that these investment frauds are complex and threaten personal finances significantly. Delhi, in particular, sees the largest average losses per person, with victims losing around Rs 8 lakh each. Cybercriminals employ various online methods to carry out these scams, mainly using messaging apps and social media as their main tools. The report states that messaging apps like Telegram and WhatsApp contribute to about 20 percent of all cases. The secure nature of these apps, along with their simple group creation feature, makes them appealing for scammers.

According to the report, professional networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter are seldom utilized, making up just 0.31 percent of the cases. Instead, criminals choose informal and direct messaging platforms for their activities. Another important point from the report is that the largest portion of scam platforms falls under the category labeled as "Other," which includes 41.87 percent of all cases. This indicates that scams are being executed on various platforms that have not been specifically identified.