What the complaint numbers do and do not tell us
Reported cyber fraud keeps rising. Some of that is more fraud, and some of it is more reporting. Separating the two matters for where awareness effort goes.
Rising complaints are partly good news
A jump in registered complaints can mean fraud grew, or that people who previously stayed silent now know where to go. Both are happening at once, and the published totals cannot separate them.
Under-reporting has always been heavy in cyber fraud, driven by embarrassment more than ignorance. Every campaign that reduces shame raises the numbers before it lowers them.
The average loss is the wrong headline
Averages in this data are dragged upward by a small number of very large investment frauds. The median loss is far smaller and describes the typical victim much better.
Designing awareness around the headline average produces material aimed at people losing lakhs, while most people lose an amount that never makes the news.
Where the gap actually sits
Recognition of the major fraud types is now reasonably wide. What remains thin is knowing what to do in the first hour, and knowing that a complaint can be filed at all without visiting a police station.
That is a narrow, teachable gap, and it is the one this site is built around.