Frauds are becoming more common than we would like them to be. At this point, everyone we know has a fraud story of their own to share. And if you don’t trust me, then you will have to trust the data. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently shared its annual report which shed light on some really shocking numbers about payment frauds in India.
The report states that there has been more than a fivefold increase in payment frauds in fiscal year 2023-2024. The numbers amounted to ₹14.57 billion ($175 million). Yes, financial scams online are seeing a major rise. This is also because we now have more users engaging in online payments, thanks to the introduction of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in 2016.
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The report further reveals that digital transactions, including cards and internet payments, accounted for 10.4% of the total fraud amount in the latest fiscal year, a steep increase from 1.1% in fiscal 2023.
The RBI data also revealed that UPI transactions have increased by 137% over the past two years, reaching ₹200 trillion. Now, this is a great indicator of progress in the digital space but it is also good news for the scammers. The popularity of online payments has led to more payment frauds as fraudsters can target more people. On top of that, even though many people are using online payment methods, they are not aware of how to securely use them.
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Even though we increasingly prefer digital payment methods instead of exchanging cash for the smallest of our payments, we should take a moment’s pause and try to understand and learn how to safely deal with the same to avoid giving loopholes to scammers.
