Indians report nearly 800 online financial fraud cases a day, are you protected? Report

Nearly 800 online financial frauds are reported in India every day, the Times of India reported. While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had reported 29,082 card & digital payment fraud cases with each worth above ₹1 lakh in the financial year 2023-24, the actual number goes up to about 2.9 lakh cases for the year, or 800 cases a day, if all individual cases worth below ₹1 lakh are also included.

The RBI had disclosed the number of cases below ₹1 lakh to an RTI query, according to Times of India. HT couldn’t independently verify this information.

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What is the total value of these online financial fraud cases?

The cases above ₹1 lakh add up to ₹1,457 crore in total value, according to the RBI report. The cases below ₹1 lakh add a further ₹653 crore to this, according to Times of India.

How many financial fraud cases were reported before?

Cyber frauds of ₹5,574 crore had been reported for the first half of the financial year 2022-23 on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, which is much higher than the ₹2,296 crore in 2021-22, according to a report by the standing committee on communications and information technology (2023-24), Business Line wrote.

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What are the types of financial fraud?

The most common kinds of frauds include malware or system breaches where funds are stolen, phishing, where the victim is coerced into revealing their credentials or perform financial transactions, and fake e-commerce sites or fraudulent schemes where victims voluntarily transfer funds, according to the article.

When are you protected and when are you not protected from financial frauds?

Voluntarily transfering funds are not recognised as banking frauds because the bank systems are not breached, the report read.

The RBI had introduced the concept of zero customer liability in unauthorised transactions in 2017, where the customer is legally protected only when they do not share credentials, or if the fraud occurs after the customer reports that their account has been compromised.

This means that there is no protection for the customer when the funds are transferred voluntarily.

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