UPI scam: Massive spike in online payment fraud cases amid increase in usage, says MHA

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Unified Payment Interface (UPI) has made online payments very quick and easy. Nobody is surprised by UPI’s success. However, there has been an upsurge in the number of incidences of fraud in online transactions using UPI. According to Ministry of Home Affairs data, there has been a significant surge in cyber fraud reports made on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) as a result of UPI fraud. There was a 15.3 per cent increase in cyber fraud complaints between the first and second quarters of 2022.

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UPI fraud has escalated:

According to the data, 206198 complaints were made on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal in the first quarter of 2022, increasing by 15.3 per cent to 237659 in the second quarter. In the category of cybercrime, 62,350 UPI fraud complaints were recorded in the first quarter of 2022, which grew to 84,145 in the second quarter of 2022. This is a 34 per cent increase. The main reason for this rise, however, is the increase in UPI payments. According to the RBI, UPI payments increased by 1200 per cent in the fiscal year ending September.

Online financial fraud is on the rise:

According to a Ministry of Home Affairs report, online financial fraud accounted for 67.9 per cent of total cybercrime. Debit/credit card/SIM switch fraud is another type of financial theft that is on the rise. 24,270 similar frauds were discovered in the first quarter of 2022, rising to 26,793 in the second quarter. However, the number of internet banking complaints about the report has decreased. In the first quarter of 2022, a total of 20,443 internet banking complaints were reported, which has since decreased to 19,267 in the second quarter.

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However, UPI payments are steadily increasing. UPI payment, according to a report by Abplive.com, had reached 10 lakh crore in May 2022, and this amount has now risen to 12.11 lakh crore. One of the easiest ways to do a transaction is using UPI, which minimises the burden of daily wallet carrying.