Digital payment frauds…! Indian customers are increasingly concerned with digital payments fraud and, according to a new study by Yugov and ACI Worldwide, they are exercising greater caution in digital payments than a year ago.
Around 71% of consumers said that they were more worried about the Covid 19 scams and fraud compared with a pandemic incidence of 47% last year, ACI Worldwide said.
The survey showed that net banking was perceived as the safest payment method and that UPI and eWallet operations were greater than online and offline payments than card payments.
It showed that approximately 60 percent of those interviewed called their bank for the first time to block their account or to visit the bank branch in case of fraud, stating that the banks remain the primary points of contact.
As far as the possible risk of fraud when trading via UPIs or eWallets is concerned, almost half of the consumers worry about fake UPI payments, which require money to be translated via text or email.
Positively, government efforts to foster digital payments, with almost eight in ten (78 per cent) consumers agreeing to maintain the government’s commitment to security and social removal actions during the pandemic, were highly praised.
The use of eWallets and UPIs continues to increase, with 37 percent of consumers using digital payments at less than once daily, second only to cash (52 per cent).
ACI Worldwide’s Vice President, Product Management, Asia, Middle East and Africa, Kausehik Roy, stated that the pandemic was an important catalyst for adopting and increasing Digital Payments in India, but the growth of transactions was accompanied by the emergence of payments-focused scams, many of which were first time users targeted by fraudsters.
He added that consumers welcomed the authorities’ efforts to scale up payments overwhelmingly and acknowledged the efforts of banks with regard to consumer sensibilities about fraud in payments.
Roy said, however, that banks need not only use modern and robust enterprise levels to continue leading the way.
