New Delhi: Banks and financial institutions reported digital payment frauds totalling roughly Rs 4,457 crore across about 8.23 lakh cases between FY 2015-16 and FY 2025-26, the government the Lok Sabha on Monday, with more than half that value concentrated in a single year — 2023-24.
The data, tabled by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, in a written reply to MP Balwant Baswant Wankhade, is drawn from Reserve Bank of India records. It shows the value of reported frauds rising from Rs 40.20 crore across 1,191 cases in 2015-16 to Rs 2,060.75 crore across 2,93,239 cases in 2023-24, the most in any year of the period, before a change in reporting rules reshaped the count.
In 2024-25, banks reported 1,44,855 cases worth Rs 821.88 crore; for 2025-26, the reply lists 5,997 cases and Rs 35.86 crore. The fall after 2023-24 follows revised RBI Master Directions on Fraud Risk Management dated July 15, 2024.
Per a note in the reply, banks now report through the Fraud Monitoring Return only payment-system transactions concluded as fraud committed on the bank — which narrows what enters the count and means the drop reflects reporting rules as much as the trend on the ground. That same caveat makes the 11-year total a floor rather than a like-for-like tally.
Within 2023-24, internet banking accounted for Rs 1,058.80 crore across 1,38,027 cases and credit cards for Rs 812.89 crore across 1,18,106 cases. UPI, wallets, IMPS/NEFT/RTGS and Aadhaar-enabled payments appear as separate line items only from 2024-25.
Wankhade had also asked for the amount recovered and returned to victims, year-wise. The reply grouped that part with the fraud data and pointed to the annexure, which lists only cases and amounts, with no recovery figures.
On the vulnerability of senior citizens, Chaudhary said the RBI issued a discussion paper, “Exploring safeguards in digital payments to curb frauds,” in April 2026.
The paper flags Authorised Push Payment (APP) frauds, in which victims are manipulated through social engineering into transferring money themselves—a form that, the RBI notes, leaves limited scope for recovery.
Its proposals include a one-hour delay before APP transfers of Rs 10,000 and above, giving the payer time to reconsider and the bank time to flag suspicious activity, plus whitelisting, additional authentication for vulnerable users, and MuleHunter. AI to detect mule accounts.
Separately, the RBI’s Authentication Mechanisms for Digital Payment Transactions Directions, 2025 — mandating at least one factor of authentication unique to each transaction — took effect on April 1, 2026.
On relief to victims, the reply cited a 2017 RBI circular limiting customer liability in unauthorised electronic transactions, and revised directions on compensation for small-value fraudulent transactions under which eligible customers can get a one-time reimbursement, subject to 85 per cent of net loss or ₹25,000, whichever is lower.
Asked about budget and expenditure on cyber-fraud awareness since 2019, the reply said there is no centralised mechanism to capture that spending. It listed steps instead: 1,489 e-BAAT programmes by the RBI; awareness campaigns on money mules across television, SMS, print and social media; and an NPCI campaign, “Main Moorkh Nahi Hun,” in 12 languages across television, radio, YouTube and Instagram.
The numbers sit against a decade in which, by the RBI’s account, digital transaction volumes rose about 38-fold and values more than tripled, carried by UPI, cards, IMPS, NEFT, RTGS, wallets and net banking.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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