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Indian consumers reported median losses of USD 2,265 (about Rs 2.04 lakh) in the last year due to digital fraud, compared to the global median of USD 1,671, according to the TransUnion report
At the same time, India's suspected digital fraud rate nearly halved to 7.1 per cent in 2025 from 13.1 per cent a year ago, reflecting gains from government and industry efforts around digital literacy, customer education, phone number verification and cyber intelligence sharing.
However, the rate remained almost twice the global average of 3.8 per cent, indicating persistent vulnerabilities.
The report further showed that digital fraud continues to affect a large section of Indian consumers: 59 per cent said they were targeted by fraud attempts between August and December 2025, while 13 per cent reported falling victim to such attacks, which is above the global average of 10 per cent.
Phishing emerged as the most common fraud scheme targeting Indians. Consumers also reported elevated exposure to vishing, smishing and third-party seller scams on legitimate e-commerce platforms, according to the report.
Sector-wise, logistics emerged as the riskiest industry in India, recording the highest suspected digital fraud rate at 16.3 per cent in 2025, ahead of telecommunications, insurance, video gaming, communities, financial services, retail and travel and leisure.
The report said fraud risks in India were increasingly concentrated at the account login stage, suggesting fraudsters are shifting focus towards compromising existing user credentials rather than exploiting onboarding systems.
TransUnion said the decline in fraud attempts points to improving digital safeguards, but warned that identity-based scams and impersonation tactics remain a significant threat as digital adoption deepens.
India’s digital payments story is often depicted as a story of conquering challenges with innovation: billions of UPI transactions, QR codes at every mom-and-pop shop, and fintech applications turning smartphones into wallets. But hidden behind this bright picture is a darker reality: a surge in digital and financial fraud that is slowly eroding family savings and trust. For many in the new middle class, the pressing concern is no longer, “Will my payment go through?” but rather, “Who is on the other side of this link, OTP, or QR code?”
These figures offer a reality check. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), payment fraud involving digital channels increased by over five times to an estimated Rs 14.57 billion in the year ending March 2024, compared to the previous year, even as UPI continued to break volume records. Another study pointed out that during the year 2024, Indian consumers lost an enormous amount of Rs 22,842 crore to the hands of cybercriminals and fraudsters, which was a huge increase from earlier years.
The official sources have cautioned that if the current trend continues, the annual losses may cross Rs 1.2 lakh crore. Interestingly, it has been found that one out of five UPI users is likely to have faced some kind of fraud, yet more than half of the victims reportedly do not file complaints, often due to embarrassment or uncertainty about how to proceed.
“Payment fraud is evolving as rapidly as the technology that enables digital transactions. Traditional phishing emails have given way to fake customer-care numbers, “KYC update” links, remote-access apps, bogus investment groups, romance scams, and even deepfake audio or video impersonations of trusted individuals. What unites these schemes is social engineering. Fraudsters rarely breach systems; instead, they manipulate people. Victims are often caught off guard, believing they are dealing with a legitimate entity simply because of a familiar brand logo or the tone of the message. In that moment of misplaced trust, they share OTPs, approve collect requests, or install malicious apps that hand over control of their devices,” says Ashwini Kumar, Advocate & Founder of My Legal Expert (MLE).
Legal and regulatory measures are gaining momentum, but there is a time lag between the frauds' transformation and the protective measures reaching the users who are not so tech-savvy. The authorities have earmarked digital fraud as a major risk and are compelling banks and payment institutions to reinforce multi-factor authentication, real-time monitoring, and fraud reporting systems. The police have launched online reporting and specialised coordination centres for cybercrime to follow and cut off the money flow through mule accounts and fraudulent websites, while public awareness campaigns and law enforcement agencies continue to urge consumers not to share sensitive information or click on unknown links or numbers.