Reported cybercrimes against women in Sri Lanka rose to 4,742 cases in 2025, up from 3,159 in 2024 and 4,103 in 2023, Public Security Minister K.M. Ananda Wijepala told Parliament on Thursday.
Resolution rates remain low. In 2025, only 572 of the 4,742 reported cases were resolved, leaving 4,170 pending. The 2024 caseload showed 982 resolved out of 3,159; 2023 produced 755 resolutions against 4,103 reports, with 3,348 still open.
Wijepala said many of the cases now involve AI-generated fake images and deepfakes used for harassment and blackmail — a category that did not feature prominently in earlier-year statistics. He told MP Rajeevan Jeyachandramoorthy, who tabled the question, that some cases are resolved within months while others “take years” because of cross-border servers and anonymising tools.
The Minister said dedicated cybercrime units have now been established in every province to shorten response times, and the Police would conduct fresh public awareness campaigns aimed at women and children.
The disclosure follows a sharp uptick in foreign-syndicate cybercrime arrests in Colombo over the past two months — including a 74-Vietnamese-national raid in Kollupitiya and Matara and an earlier 60-foreigner sweep at the same Kollupitiya address — and a Rs.500,000 nude-video blackmail arrest in the North Western Province. SLCERT separately warned of a WhatsApp-based blackmail wave using AI-altered images earlier this month.
Sources: EconomyNext, The Island.
