Bengaluru witnessed at least one economic offence every 2.5 hours over the past three years, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, highlighting the growing rise of financial fraud and cheating cases in India’s tech capital.

The NCRB’s Crime in India 2024 report revealed that Bengaluru registered 10,580 economic offences between 2022 and 2024. In 2024 alone, the city reported 3,477 such cases, placing it among the top five metropolitan cities in the country for economic crimes.

Fraud and cheating dominate cases

Of the 3,477 cases recorded in 2024, nearly 93 per cent — around 3,249 cases — involved forgery, cheating and fraud.

The report suggests Bengaluru’s crime landscape is shifting rapidly from traditional theft and street crimes towards digital and financial deception.

Police officials attributed the rise to Bengaluru’s large digital economy, widespread online banking usage and increasing investments through apps and digital platforms.

Authorities said fake investment schemes, cryptocurrency frauds, trading-app scams, impersonation fraud and loan-app extortion are becoming increasingly common.

Legal system under pressure

The NCRB data also showed mounting pendency in economic offence cases.

At the end of 2024, Bengaluru had 13,616 economic offence cases pending trial. The conviction rate stood at only 5 per cent, while over 95 per cent of cases remained pending.

The city’s chargesheet filing rate in economic offences was recorded at 49.1 per cent.

Officials said many fraud networks operate across multiple states using mule bank accounts, temporary SIM cards and encrypted communication channels, making investigations and money recovery extremely difficult.

Karnataka mirrors Bengaluru trend

Across Karnataka, 7,814 economic offences were recorded in 2024, of which 7,209 involved forgery, cheating and fraud.

Experts say the figures reflect how rapidly financial and digital crimes are evolving alongside technology-driven urban growth.

The NCRB report also clarified that cybercrime cases are categorised separately and are not included in these economic offence numbers.