The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has made online payments very fast and easy. No one is surprised by UPI’s success. However, there has been an increase in cases of fraud in online transactions using UPI.
According to Home Ministry data, there has been a significant increase in cyber fraud reports on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) as a result of UPI scams.
Between the first and second quarters of 2022, the number of cyber fraud complaints increased by 15.3 percent.
UPI Scams Escalated:
According to the data, 206,198 complaints were filed on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal in the first quarter of 2022, an increase of 15.3 percent to 237,659 in the second quarter.
In the cybercrime category, there were 62,350 UPI fraud complaints in the first quarter of 2022, which increased to 84,145 in the second quarter of 2022.
This is a 34 percent increase. However, the main reason behind this rise is the rise in UPI payments. According to the RBI, UPI payments increased by 1,200 percent in the fiscal year that ended in September.
Online financial fraud accounted for 67.9 percent of total cybercrime, according to a Home Office report. Debit/credit card/SIM switch fraud is another type of financial theft that is on the rise.
In the first quarter of 2022, 24,270 similar frauds were detected and in the second quarter, there were 26,793. However, the number of online banking complaints about the report decreased.
A total of 20,443 online banking complaints were reported in the first quarter of 2022, which has since dropped to 19,267 in the second quarter.
However, UPI payments continue to grow. According to a report by Abplive.com, UPI payment reached 10 lakh crore in May 2022 and this amount has now increased to 12.11 lakh crore.
One of the easiest ways to transact is by using UPI, which minimizes the burden of carrying a wallet every day.