The Indian government has reportedly said that over 52,000 cases of bank fraud have been reported up to December 2019. This has resulted in Indian users losing over Rs 228 crore in debit card or netbanking frauds during that period, the government was quoted saying in this ET Tech report.
The worrying bit is the figures have grown since the past12 months by over 60 percent, the report points out. With the country now moving towards mobile as well as physical cards for payments, the chances of frauds increasing in the near future are much higher, as attackers prey on their targets.
This is why it was important for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow reporting fraud cases below Rs 1 lakh which wasn’t available prior to 2017.
Out of the 52,000 cases reported, Maharashtra itself has accounted for 42 percent of the total number of cases reported during the period, the government was quoted saying.
These trends have been widely noticed by security experts and the latest report doesn’t paint a promising picture for the future either.
Since the start of 2020, attackers seem to have changed their preferred target region, as Chandigarh has reported the highest fraud in terms of the amount at about Rs 67 crore in the fiscal year 2020.
Securing the Future of Digital Payment
So many fraud incidents have forced the RBI to take stringent action, which includes disabling the option to make online payments on cards that haven’t been used for shopping digitally.
The central body has asked banks and other card-issuing companies to provide a facility to customers to switch on and off their debit or credit cards, a move aimed at enhancing security for digital transactions.
The latest notification assumes significance amid rising instances of cyber frauds, and as this government report suggests, such actions are warranted to curb mishaps like these.
Digital banking frauds are happening in various forms now. These days people are being duped on platforms like Paytm and through UPI apps like Google Pay, where instead of receiving money, people are mistakenly sending money to fraudsters. Attackers are even using apps like AnyDesk and Teamviewer to access confidential details like your bank password and more.
In times like these and the near future, it’s imperative that users remain vigilant to such threats and report immediately if they detect suspicious activities through their account.
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