| Credit cards, internet banking top digital fraud list; losses touch Rs 3,588 crore | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, July 28: More than 5.83 lakh digital payment frauds involving over Rs 3,588 crore have been reported by banks and financial institutions across the country since 2021, with barely Rs 238.83 crore recovered and returned, the Union Government informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Replying to a question by Rajya Sabha MPs Ranjeet Ranjan and Jebi Mather Hisham, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the rapid expansion of digital payment transactions has been accompanied by a steady rise in cyber frauds, including frauds involving credit cards, internet banking and other digital payment platforms.
According to data provided by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a total of 5,83,291 digital payment fraud cases involving Rs 3,588.22 crore were reported between FY 2021-22 and FY 2025-26 . During the same period, only Rs 238.83 crore was recovered.
Credit card frauds accounted for the highest number of cases, with 2,43,849 incidents involving Rs 1,447.27 crore, of which Rs 177.78 crore was recovered.
This was followed closely by internet banking frauds, where 2,42,562 cases involving Rs 1,730.14 crore were reported. However, recoveries in these cases stood at only Rs 24.83 crore, reflecting the difficulty in tracing and reversing such fraudulent transactions.
The Government informed the House that 94,991 frauds involving debit and ATM cards were reported during the period, resulting in losses of Rs 401.17 crore, while only Rs 34.91 crore could be recovered.
Other categories included 1,346 Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) and Aadhaar-related frauds involving Rs 1.06 crore, 457 UPI frauds involving Rs 2.13 crore, 57 IMPS/NEFT/RTGS frauds amounting to Rs 4.80 crore, and a handful of cases involving digital wallets and prepaid cards.
Responding to concerns over the increasing incidence of digital payment frauds and the vulnerability of senior citizens, the Government said the RBI has undertaken an assessment and released a discussion paper titled "Exploring Safeguards in Digital Payments to Curb Frauds" in April 2026.
The discussion paper highlights the rapid growth of digital payments alongside a rise in Authorised Push Payment (APP) frauds, where victims are manipulated through social engineering techniques into voluntarily transferring money to fraudsters. The proposed safeguards are aimed at protecting vulnerable customers undertaking specified digital payment transactions.
On measures to spread awareness, the Government informed Parliament that there is no centralised mechanism to capture expenditure incurred on cyber fraud awareness campaigns.
However, it said several awareness initiatives are being undertaken jointly by the Government, RBI and banks. These include 1,489 Electronic Banking Awareness and Training (e-BAAT) programmes conducted by the RBI to promote the safe use of digital payments across the country.
The RBI and banks have also launched public awareness campaigns against money mule accounts through television, print, SMS and social media platforms.
In addition, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is running its multilingual "Main Moorkh Nahi Hun" campaign across television, radio, YouTube, Instagram and other digital platforms in 12 Indian languages to educate citizens, particularly in rural areas, about online financial frauds.
The Government maintained that these initiatives are aimed at enhancing customer awareness and strengthening safeguards as digital payment adoption continues to grow rapidly across the country. |
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