SRINAGAR: Digital payment frauds involving Rs 4,457.03 crore were reported in India over the 11 financial years from 2015-16 to 2025-26, with the banking system recording a cumulative 8,22,781 cases, according to data placed before the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The data, furnished by the Ministry of Finance in response to a question on the rise in digital payment frauds, shows that reported frauds surged from just 1,191 cases involving Rs 40.20 crore in 2015-16 to 2,93,239 cases involving Rs 2,060.75 crore in 2023-24, before falling sharply to 1,44,855 cases involving Rs 821.88 crore in 2024-25 and 5,997 cases involving Rs 35.86 crore in 2025-26.
The government, however, cautioned that the figures need to be read in the context of a major change in reporting methodology. Following the revised RBI Master Directions on Fraud Risk Management issued on July 15, 2024, banks began reporting only those payment-system transactions that were concluded as frauds committed on banks through the Fraud Monitoring Return.
The data therefore shows both the expansion of digital-payment fraud over the period and a major change in the way such frauds are reported.
Internet banking emerges as a major source of losses
Among the categories for which long-term data is available, internet banking frauds accounted for Rs 2,007.76 crore across the period, based on the annual figures provided in the annexure.
Internet banking frauds rose from only 12 cases involving Rs 1.30 crore in 2015-16 to 5,313 cases involving Rs 17.07 crore in 2018-19 and 20,476 cases involving Rs 86.66 crore in 2020-21.
The numbers continued to rise, reaching 27,582 cases involving Rs 176.40 crore in 2022-23 and a peak of 1,38,027 cases involving Rs 1,058.80 crore in 2023-24.
They subsequently fell to 59,337 cases involving Rs 412.52 crore in 2024-25 and just seven cases involving Rs 0.19 crore in 2025-26.
Credit-card fraud also saw a dramatic increase in the period covered by the data. The number rose from 616 cases involving Rs 22.33 crore in 2015-16 to 1,18,106 cases involving Rs 812.89 crore in 2023-24. The figure then fell to 66,106 cases involving Rs 336.07 crore in 2024-25 and 1,692 cases involving Rs 20.16 crore in 2025-26.
Debit card and ATM frauds followed a similar trajectory, increasing from 563 cases involving Rs 16.57 crore in 2015-16 to 36,978 cases involving Rs 102.13 crore in 2019-20 and 35,264 cases involving Rs 90.75 crore in 2020-21. The category recorded 37,106 cases involving Rs 189.06 crore in 2023-24, before dropping to 18,882 cases involving Rs 67.86 crore in 2024-25 and 521 cases involving Rs 1.65 crore in 2025-26.
Government acknowledges rise in cyber fraud
The Ministry of Finance said the incidence of cyber frauds, including digital payment frauds, has increased in recent years alongside the expansion of digital payment transactions.
The Reserve Bank of India has addressed the issue in an April 2026 discussion paper titled “Exploring safeguards in digital payments to curb frauds”, which highlighted the rapid growth of digital payments and the corresponding rise in Authorised Push Payment (APP) frauds.
According to the government, such frauds are driven largely by social engineering and instant fund transfers, making certain customer segments particularly vulnerable.
The RBI’s discussion paper and related security measures are aimed at safeguarding vulnerable customers undertaking specified digital-payment transactions.
New RBI protection for small-value fraud victims
The government said the RBI had issued instructions in July 2017 to limit customers’ liability in cases of unauthorised electronic banking transactions.
The framework provides for zero liability, limited liability or liability according to a board-approved policy, depending on the circumstances of the transaction.
The government has also pointed to recently revised RBI directions on compensation for small-value fraudulent electronic banking transactions. Under the revised framework, eligible customers who become victims of digital payment fraud can receive a one-time reimbursement of up to Rs 50,000, subject to 85 per cent of their net loss or Rs 25,000, whichever is lower.
The government said the framework is intended to provide quicker financial relief to victims while strengthening confidence in digital payment systems.
No centralised data on awareness spending
Despite the scale of the fraud problem, the Centre said there is no centralised data capturing expenditure incurred on cyber-fraud awareness.
The government said awareness and prevention efforts are being undertaken through multiple institutions, including the RBI, banks and the National Payments Corporation of India.
The RBI has conducted 1,489 Electronic Banking Awareness and Training (e-BAAT) programmes to promote awareness and safe use of digital payments across the country.
Banks and the RBI are also running public-awareness campaigns on money mules through television, SMS, print and social-media platforms.
The National Payments Corporation of India is conducting the “Main Moorkh Nahi Hun” campaign across television, radio, YouTube, Instagram and other platforms. The campaign is being run in 12 Indian languages, with an emphasis on reaching rural populations.
UPI data appears only from 2025-26
The parliamentary annexure separately lists UPI, wallets/prepaid cards, IMPS/NEFT/RTGS, Aadhaar-enabled payment systems and other categories, but the supplied data does not provide a continuous 11-year series for these categories.
UPI fraud, for example, is listed at 141 cases involving Rs 0.64 crore in 2015-16 and 355 cases involving Rs 1.73 crore in 2016-17, with no subsequent annual figures provided in the supplied annexure before the series moves to the other categories and the later grand totals.
Similarly, the annexure lists only limited early-year figures for wallets/prepaid cards, IMPS/NEFT/RTGS and Aadhaar-related frauds.
Consequently, the grand total is the more reliable basis for measuring the overall digital-payment fraud burden across the full 2015-16 to 2025-26 period, rather than attempting to construct an 11-year category-wise comparison from incomplete category series.
Recovery and refund figures not supplied
The Lok Sabha question specifically sought details of the amount recovered and returned to victims during the period. However, the material supplied with the parliamentary answer does not contain a year-wise recovery/refund table.
The government instead says the RBI has provided the reported digital-payment fraud data in the annexure and separately outlines measures intended to help customers recover losses.
This distinction is important: Rs 4,457.03 crore is the cumulative amount involved in reported digital-payment frauds in the supplied 11-year data, not the amount ultimately lost by victims after recoveries or refunds.
The figures also cannot be used to calculate a recovery rate for the entire period because the corresponding year-wise recovery and refund amounts are not provided.
The government’s response nevertheless points to a growing policy concern: as digital payments have expanded, fraud risks have evolved from conventional card and internet-banking fraud to increasingly sophisticated forms of social engineering and instant-transfer scams, prompting the RBI to focus on real-time safeguards and protection of vulnerable customers.
