Kathmandu, Shrawan 31- Online fraud and digital offences are on the rise in Nepal, and the Nepal Police received 20,526 complaints of cybercrime during Fiscal Year 2025/26, with Facebook, Messenger, and TikTok accounting for thousands of reports as online fraud and digital offenses continue to rise.
According to Nepal Police Cyber Bureau, the complaints were lodged from the mid-July 2025 to the mid-July 2026. During the same period, police have been able to register 161 cybercrime cases and 155 offenders have been arrested. The complaints were a large proportion on social media platforms. There were 7,123 complaints involves Facebook or Messenger and 6,776 involving TikTok. Then there were WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram, with 3,105, 1,031 and 628 complaints respectively.
Another 744 complaints involved eSewa, Khalti, bank account or SMS, reflecting the increasing trend of cybercrime and digital payments being associated with financial fraud. According to the Nepal Cyber Bureau spokesperson SP Dilip Kumar Giri said he fraudsters usually pretend to be from banks or digital-wallet firms to trick victims into giving them their account details. Other scams include fake gift and lottery events, parcel fraud, online romance scams, fake foreign-employment and job offer, and fraudulent online shopping offers.
Complaints about cybercrime have been steadily increasing over the past few years. Nepal Police recorded 18,926 complaints in fiscal year 2081/82 and 19,730 in 2080/81, compared with 20,526 in the latest year.
The Nepal Police Cyber Bureau, established in 2018 is a unit of the Nepal Police to investigate cyber-related crimes, and to run awareness program on online safety for the public. Police urged the community to exercise caution with personal or financial information, responding to unfamiliar messages and making online payments. Reporting suspected cybercrime and online fraud should be done in a timely fashion to ensure that digital and financial evidence are retained to help investigate.
