5 min readNew DelhiApr 22, 2026 10:41 AM IST
First published on: Apr 22, 2026 at 04:25 AM IST
Delhi has witnessed a 120% surge in cyber-related financial frauds over the past 10 years, according to Delhi Police’s official data.
In the wake of an alarming rise in such frauds, the Delhi Police is set to establish a state cyber crime coordination centre to work with other law enforcement agencies and the banking sector to combat cybercrime in a coordinated and consolidated manner, The Indian Express has learnt. This coordination centre will function on the line of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre or I4C, which operates under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
As per official data, the Delhi Police registered around 700 cyber crime cases in 2015 — the overall losses due to the financial frauds totalled up to Rs 6 crore. Fast forward to 2025 and the number of cases recorded annually rose to a whopping 16,000 with the overall defrauded amount rising up to nearly Rs 1,200 crore.
Last month, in a written reply to a question in Parliament, Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar cited data from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) to highlight a sharp rise in cyber fraud incidents in India. The highest number of cases were reported from Delhi, he underlined.
According to an official source, financial fraud cases related to digital arrest scams and investment frauds have particularly seen a significant surge in the Capital. These crimes are mostly operated from abroad and from other states.
“The force has launched a coordinated operation called Cyber Hawk, and in the past few months, it has managed to break the networks of such syndicates by arresting hundreds of mule account holders. These syndicates operate in multi-layered chains, with the masterminds sitting abroad. The use of SIM boxes, VPNs (virtual private networks), and similar technology has also created challenges for security agencies, requiring coordinated efforts from all agencies,” the source said.
“The S4C will not only help coordinate with various agencies but will also promote the use of new technologies to combat the challenges faced by the force in solving cybercrime. It will also help with training and increasing awareness like the I4C does,” the source added.
Among other challenges, the multilayered chain of bank accounts used for transferring the defrauded money by the scamsters has posed a serious problem for the agencies.
The personnel deployed at the S4C will also work with banks to provide immediate relief to victims by freezing accounts or preventing further transfer of the defrauded amount. “At present, around 30% of the money is being returned to victims, but there is a need to increase this recovery rate,” the source added.
To set up the wing of S4C, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) has already been appointed in the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO), which is a specialised unit of the Delhi Police. With this appointment, the IFSO will now have two DCPs — one responsible for operations and investigations, and the other for coordination and handling the cybercrime helpline (1930).
The source said that the coordination cell will operate from the first floor of the Delhi Police Headquarters at Parliament Street in Central Delhi. The operations of S4C will be under the IFSO, which has its operational office located in Dwarka.
At present, the IFSO office has around 350 staff members with expertise in solving cybercrimes, coordinating with other law enforcement agencies, and conducting operations. The unit is headed by a Joint Commissioner, supported by one DCP and five Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs). The newly inducted DCP has been assigned two ACPs to set up S4C within the unit.
Established in 2019 to tackle cybercrime, the IFSO was earlier called Cyber Prevention, Awareness & Detection Centre or CyPAD before it was renamed by then Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana.
Authorised to handle cyber frauds involving amounts of Rs 50 lakh and above in Delhi since December 3, 2025, the IFSO has been functioning as an entity “separate” from the Special Cell, which is the Delhi Police’s anti-terror unit.
In 2021, the unit’s mandate was expanded to include matters related to national and economic security. Besides online financial frauds, the IFSO also investigates cases related to deepfakes, toolkits (collection of resources to help individuals or groups commit crime), online harassment, data theft and security breaches.
Besides IFSO, Delhi Police has 15 separate cyber police stations — one in each district of the Capital— to solve the cyber crime related cases.
The source said that the coordination cell will operate from the first floor of the Delhi Police Headquarters at Parliament Street in Central Delhi. The operations of S4C will be under the IFSO, which has its operational office located in Dwarka.
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