With more than 56 per cent of the population having internet access, Nepal has witnessed the expansion of digital technology over the years. As over 85 per cent of Nepali households use smartphones, a new sort of information revolution has swept the nation, still fighting against economic backwardness and abject poverty. Digital and social media have emerged as the most viable platforms for communication and economic transactions. Nonetheless, the digital space has served both constructive and destructive purposes. They have enhanced interpersonal relations and social connection to a greater degree. At the same time, they have been abused to spread misinformation, disinformation and fake news. In many cases, they have given rise to cybercrimes of various types, including online financial scams, social media hacking, blackmailing, sexual harassment, and fund withdrawals. Many people still lack digital literacy despite higher education backgrounds. This is a reason even educated people are swindled by clever hackers.
Cybercrimes have gone up by leaps and bounds recently. In the fiscal year 2025/26, more than 20,526 cybercrime complaints were registered at the Nepal Police Cyber Bureau, which is an increase of around 1,600 from the previous fiscal year. An average of about 56 complaints were lodged every day. Around 19,730 complaints were recorded in FY 2023/24. Of the complaints registered in FY 2025/26, police filed 409 cases in court for further legal action, according to a news report in this daily. It was 291 in FY 2024/25 and 255 in FY 2023/24. Cybercrimes have become complex and diverse as the miscreants exploit the loopholes of social sites, digital payments and technology-driven services. Security experts say that the cases of fake accounts, identity theft, phishing, investment scams, fraudulent online shopping, work-from-home schemes and theft from banks accounts and digital wallets have grown significantly.
The Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police warned the general public about fraudulent messages impersonating services such as ConnectIPS. In some cases, innocent people are told that their bank accounts have been locked. Then, hackers send suspicious links to victims to extract personal information and gain access to their accounts. In order to deal with rising cybercrimes, Nepal Police Headquarters is carrying out preparations to set up an Anti-Cyber Scam Centre (ACSC) and integrated command centres at federal, provincial and district levels. The initiative seeks to involve all three tiers of government to pool necessary resources – human and financial. The Centre, to be established under the Cyber Bureau, needs to be equipped with sophisticated technology and modern infrastructure. The proposed organisation is expected to bring together the focal representatives from Nepal Police, Nepal Rastra Bank, the Nepal Bankers’ Association, Nepal Telecommunications Authority and internet service providers.
These institutions are related stakeholders whose coordinated efforts are crucial to share vital information in the battle against online scams. Nepal Police has adopted a decentralised approach, making provincial and district-level units responsible for tackling cybercrimes. For this, a cyber-desk has been envisioned at every district police office and forensic science and digital forensic laboratories at the provincial level. These facilities will boost the investigative capacity of the district police offices. Specialised personnel must be deployed to this end. In a similar manner, Nepal Police should build institutional contacts with social networking sites such as Facebook and TikTok for prompt action against the digital fraudsters.
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