Data submitted by the finance ministry to parliament on Monday showed that people lost a combined 1.77 billion rupees ($20.3 million) to fraud in the fiscal year ended March 2024. The total number of cases where the amount involved was 100,000 rupees or more, jumped to 29,082 from 6,699 the year before. Affordable data packs in the world’s most populous country have increased internet access and created a $1 trillion mobile payments market for firms such as Paytm, Google Pay and Walmart-backed PhonePe. But cyber literacy has lagged, leaving people vulnerable to fraud, with scammers impersonating officials or using AI to dupe unsuspecting people online, or through text messaging and mobile phone calls. The finance ministry said that the government had published handbooks and launched media awareness campaigns, asking people to be vigilant about cybercrimes. In his monthly radio address to the nation in October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about the spread of digital scams and urged people to take steps to increase their online security.