India’s New Crime Story: Lockdown, Joblessness, and the Rise of Digital Offenses

By Dark Crime Diaries | 2025 Investigative Report

When India went into lockdown in March 2020, the world assumed the only enemy was COVID-19. But as hospitals filled with patients, a second pandemic quietly grew: crime.

With millions locked inside their homes, jobs disappearing overnight, and every aspect of life shifting online, the country’s criminal map was redrawn. Streets became quieter, but homes turned violent. Cybercriminals discovered a goldmine. And jobless youth, armed only with smartphones, began fueling a digital crime wave.

Today, as we analyze crime in India post-lockdown, the evidence is clear: unemployment and technology have not just changed society, but they have also changed crime itself.

Crime in India Before Lockdown: The Traditional Pattern

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, India’s crime structure was more traditional. Street crimes, violent disputes, and family-related crimes dominated the numbers.

In 2019, the year before lockdown:

• India recorded 29,000 murders, which means nearly 80 murders every day. Most were not professional killings but results of personal quarrels, land disputes, or family feuds.
• There were 32,033 cases of rape, averaging 88 rapes every single day. Shockingly, the NCRB noted that in more than 90% of cases, the accused was someone known to the victim, a reminder that danger often comes from within social circles.
• Dowry deaths remained a stubborn problem, with 7,115 women killed that year. This equals one woman dying every 75 minutes due to dowry harassment.
• Kidnapping and abduction cases crossed 105,000, a large portion linked to forced marriages and trafficking.
• Cybercrime cases were 44,546. At the time, this number looked small compared to violent crimes, but it signaled the beginning of a new kind of threat.

In short, pre-lockdown India was struggling with traditional violence, while cybercrime was only an emerging problem.

Lockdown Period: Crimes Go Indoors and Online

When India shut down in 2020, physical movement dropped. Naturally, street crimes and public violence decreased. But at the same time, domestic violence and cybercrime exploded.

Domestic Violence: The Hidden Pandemic

The National Commission for Women (NCW) saw a sharp rise in complaints during the lockdown. Normally, they received about 300–350 complaints per month. But in April–July 2020, this number shot up to 800–900 per month.

By the end of 2020, NCW had received over 23,000 complaints, the highest in six years. The reason was simple: women were stuck at home with abusive partners, financial stress created new tensions, and access to outside help became limited.

This showed how homes, which were expected to be safe, became the most unsafe spaces for many women during lockdown.

Cybercrime: The New King of Crime

While domestic violence rose indoors, cybercrime became the new leader outside. NCRB reported that cybercrime cases rose by 63% between 2019 and 2021.

• In 2019, there were 44,546 cases.
• By 2021, this number jumped to 77,000+ cases.
• By 2023, cybercrime touched 1.5 lakh+ cases, more than tripling in just four years.

Scams during this period included fake oxygen cylinder sellers, fraudulent Chinese loan apps, and fake government job or vaccine websites. People who were desperate for help became easy targets.

Child Safety: An Overlooked Crisis

Children also suffered silently. Childline India received 92,000 SOS calls in just 11 days of lockdown (March 20–31, 2020). Many calls were about abuse, neglect, or hunger. Online child exploitation also increased because children were spending more time on smartphones without supervision.

After Lockdown: Return of Old Crimes + Rise of New Ones

When restrictions were lifted, many crimes returned to their pre-pandemic levels. But cybercrime and social media scams continued to rise.

Murders and Rapes

• Murders went back to around 30,000 cases per year, almost the same as before COVID.
• Rape cases saw a 1.1% increase after 2021, proving that the dip in 2020 was only due to mobility restrictions.

Dowry Deaths

Dowry deaths remained steady at around 7,000 cases per year, showing that cultural crimes are less affected by external situations like lockdowns.

Cybercrime Becomes Permanent

By 2023–2024, cybercrime had become India’s fastest-growing crime category. New scams included “digital arrest” frauds (fake CBI/Interpol calls), Instagram investment frauds, and fake e-commerce sites.

Unemployment and Crime: The Silent Connection

The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) reported that unemployment hit 23.5% in April 2020, the highest in India’s history. Even today, youth unemployment is over 15%.

Why does this matter? Because unemployment is directly linked to crime.

1. Idle youth with smartphones easily become cybercrime recruits. Police raids in UP and Jharkhand revealed that many online scam call centers were run by educated but jobless graduates.
2. Financial stress in households worsened domestic violence and dowry harassment. Many dowry deaths were linked to families unable to pay demands during economic stress.
3. Petty crimes for survival, like chain snatching and theft, grew in smaller towns after lockdown, especially as inflation made life harder.

In other words, unemployment acted as fuel for both old and new crimes.

Social Media: A New Crime Playground

Social media, which connected people during lockdown, also opened doors for criminals.

• Honeytraps & Sextortion: Fake profiles lured men into sharing intimate photos/videos, later used for blackmail.
• Investment Frauds: Telegram and Instagram groups promised huge profits, then disappeared with people’s money.
• Psychological Impact: Viral crime videos led to fear but also copycat incidents.

Case Example: In 2023, a Bengaluru software engineer lost ₹15 lakh to a sextortion gang on Facebook. The gang was later traced outside India, showing how borderless social media crime has become.

Explaining the Data Together

When we look at all data combined:

• Murders (~30,000/year): Mostly unchanged. Shows disputes and violence are constant.
• Rapes (~33,000/year): Dip during lockdown was artificial, not real safety.
• Dowry deaths (~7,000/year): Stable but persistent, proving cultural roots.
• Cybercrime (44,546 → 1.5 lakh+): Biggest shift. The pandemic accelerated digital fraud.
• Domestic violence (2.5x rise in complaints): Proved that family stress + confinement = violence.
• Unemployment (23.5% peak): Major driver of crime, especially cyber fraud.

India did not just see more crime. It saw different kinds of crime, driven by unemployment, technology, and social pressure.

Conclusion: India’s Crime Map Redrawn

The pandemic did not just pause life; it reshaped the way crime works in India. What once happened on the streets has now found new ground inside homes and on digital screens.

India’s post-COVID crime story can be summed up in three words: Shift, Surge, Survival.

• Shift: Traditional crimes like theft and assault gave way to domestic violence and online scams. The battlefield of crime is no longer just physical; it is digital and psychological.
• Surge: Cybercrime and domestic abuse reached record highs, exposing deep cracks in our social and security systems.
• Survival: Economic stress and unemployment pushed thousands into desperate choices, showing how poverty and joblessness remain silent partners of crime.

The real message is clear: policing alone cannot solve this new wave of crime. What India needs is a combined approach of stronger cyber safety awareness, quicker justice for domestic violence survivors, and, most importantly, job creation to stop unemployed youth from drifting into crime.

If these steps are ignored, India risks fighting a crime pandemic long after COVID is forgotten. But if addressed, this crisis could become an opportunity to build a society that is not only safer on the streets, but also safer at home and online.

Verified Sources

• National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Crime in India Reports (2018–2023)
• National Commission for Women (NCW) complaint statistics (2020–2021)
• Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Unemployment Data
• Childline India Foundation Reports (2020)
• Ministry of Home Affairs, Cybercrime Division
• The Hindu, Indian Express, PTI, BBC India reports (2020–2025)