The hubs of cybercrime have shifted from Indian regions such as Jamtara, Mewat, and Bharatpur to Southeast Asian countries including Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar, CBI Director Praveen Sood said on Tuesday. In his welcome address at the National Conference on “Tackling Cyber-Enabled Frauds and Dismantling the Ecosystem”, organised by the CBI and the Home Ministry’s anti-cybercrime unit I4C, Sood said that regardless of where cybercriminals operate from, they cannot commit crimes without access to SIM cards and bank accounts.
State police first responders, CBI focused on core networks
Sood said that while state police act as the first responders in cybercrime cases, the CBI and I4C remain focused on dismantling the core infrastructure and systems that support organised cybercrime gangs.
High conviction rate in cybercrime cases
The CBI Director noted that the agency has achieved a 90 per cent conviction rate in cybercrime cases over the past 10 years. He added that chargesheets were filed in 82 per cent of the cybercrime cases registered by the agency.
Global coordination to bust cybercrime gangs
In 2025, the CBI coordinated with international agencies, including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and agencies from Britain, Japan, and other countries, to expose major cybercrime gangs, Sood said.
CBI’s expanding role in cybercrime investigation
According to a government statement, the CBI has been investigating cybercrime since 2000 and strengthened its capabilities by establishing the Cybercrime Investigation Division in 2022. The agency serves as the nodal body for investigating cybercrimes affecting the Central government and its offices, covering both cyber-dependent crimes and cyber-enabled frauds.
Focus areas of the National Cybercrime Conference
The primary objective of the conference is to develop a shared understanding of the scale, trends, and evolving nature of cyber-enabled fraud in India. The discussions focus on three critical pillars of the cyber-fraud ecosystem:
- Financial pillar: mule accounts and money laundering
- Telecom pillar: misuse of SIM/eSIMs and digital infrastructure
- Human pillar: cyber slavery and trafficking into scam compounds
Strengthening inter-agency and public-private collaboration among law enforcement agencies, banks, telecom providers, regulators, and technology platforms is also a key focus. Other areas include exploring the use of artificial intelligence and data analytics to scale investigations with limited manpower, improving faster fraud reporting mechanisms, enabling real-time fund tracing, ensuring timely evidence preservation, and enhancing victim protection.
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