Jammu and Kashmir’s official cyber crime statistics present a dangerously misleading picture. According to the NCRB Crime in India 2024 report, the Union Territory registered just 114 cyber crime cases – among the lowest in the country. This followed 185 cases in 2023 and 154 in 2021. The J&K Cyber Police and administration frequently publicise arrests, seizures of thousands of bank accounts, and isolated recoveries as evidence of strong action. Yet these claims sit uncomfortably beside the lived experience of thousands of victims whose losses far exceed what the system officially acknowledges.
In 2025 alone, cyber frauds worth Rs 184.91 crore were reported in J&K. The Cyber Investigation Centre recovered only Rs 32.64 crore – a recovery rate of roughly 17.6 percent. While any recovery is welcome, and specific operations (such as the Rs 4.44 crore bust in Jammu) deserve credit, the broader numbers reveal a systemic gap. Historical data from the Cyber Police Kashmir Zone showed that out of 2,145 cyber fraud reports lodged by complainants, only 59 FIRs were registered. Similar patterns continue: cyber cells receive thousands of complaints while registered cases remain in low double or triple digits.
This is not a minor statistical variance. It reflects under-registration, procedural hurdles that discourage victims from pursuing FIRs, and limited investigative capacity relative to the exploding volume of digital transactions. With UPI, online banking, and e-commerce surging across the Valley and Jammu districts, the actual quantum of cyber crime – investment scams, sextortion, phishing, mule-account frauds, and digital arrest rackets – is many times higher than the sanitised official count. National studies indicate that a large majority of victims never report incidents at all. In J&K, the gap between complaints received and cases formally acknowledged suggests the true scale of financial and psychological damage is understated by a significant multiple.
Ordinary citizens – students, daily wagers, small traders, and pensioners – bear the heaviest burden. Hard-earned savings disappear into accounts that are often quickly layered and moved beyond easy recovery. The police’s selective highlighting of successes creates a false narrative of control while the silent majority of victims suffer without justice or even official recognition of their loss. Propagated achievements, however real in individual cases, do not match the magnitude of the threat or the cumulative harm inflicted on the public.
J&K Police must urgently close this credibility gap. Publish transparent monthly data on complaints received versus FIRs registered versus cases solved and amounts recovered. Strengthen the Cyber Investigation Centre with dedicated forensic capacity, real-time bank and telecom coordination, and trained investigators in every district. Launch sustained, vernacular awareness campaigns that go beyond press releases. Cyber crime is the new internal security frontier. The people of J&K deserve statistics that reflect reality and a response proportionate to the digital predation they actually face. Anything less betrays both the victims and the promise of a secure, digitally empowered New J&K.
