The online fraudsters have off late posed a serious challenge to government agencies to check their nefarious acts of swindling hard earned money of people through their ‘ever changing’ modus operandi.
Giving a tough time to banking sector, the scamsters succeeded in increasing their strike rate 11 folds by successfully committing online frauds duping people through their credit cards, debit cards, ATMs operations as well as internet banking.
In a shocking revelation, data provided by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about financial frauds maintained under the category – “credit cards, ATM /debit cards and internet banking” testified that the number of online frauds (of cases involving Rs 1 lakh and above) committed in last five financial years between 2019-20 and 2023-24 had registered a rise of nearly 11 times besides the voume of funds swindled through online frauds had also witnessed a similar increase in said period.
Top 10 banks hit by scamsters
The top-10 banks hit hard by online fraudsters having maximum amount of funds siphoned off in last five years between 2019 and 2024 include HDFC, ICICI, Axis bank, State Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Indusind Bank Limited, Federal Bank Limited, City N.A., RBL Bank Limited and Bank of Baroda.
| Bank | Cases | Amount (in Cr) |
| HDFC | 6975 | 606.7 |
| ICICI | 8621 | 401.43 |
| Axix | 5121 | 180.47 |
| State Bank of India | 3323 | 144.61 |
| Union Bank of India | 337 | 98.94 |
| Indusind Bank Limited | 3512 | 94.85 |
| Federal Bank Limited | 737 | 49.02 |
| City N.A. | 2081 | 46.24 |
| RBL Bank Limited | 1737 | 36.94 |
| Bank of Baroda | 1286 | 35.82 |
64 banks report 44,599 cases of online frauds, lose Rs 2097 in five years
Official records revealed, in 2019-20, a total of 2677 online frauds were reported from different parts of the country wherein Rs 129 crore was swindled. Shockingly, in a just a five year’s time, in 2023-24, the count of cases of online frauds had swelled 11 times to 29,082 while the funds embezzled witnessed a similar increase to Rs 1457 crore.
Data of Reserve Bank of India revealed, in past five years between 2019 and 2024, a total of 64 public and private sector banks were duped of a significant Rs 2097 crore through a whopping case count registered at 44,599.
Five year scamsters report card
| Financial Year | Cases | Amount (in cr) |
| 2019-20 | 2677 | 129 |
| 2020-21 | 2545 | 119 |
| 2021-22 | 3596 | 115 |
| 2022-23 | 6699 | 277 |
| 2023-24 | 29082 | 1457 |
| Total | 44,599 | 2097 |
Government Initiatives to Check Online Frauds
In order to facilitate the citizens to report any incident of cyber theft including financial frauds, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has launched a National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) as well as a National Cybercrime Helpline Number ”1930”.
Further, customers can also report financial frauds on the official customer care website or branches of the banks.
Also, the Department of Telecommunications has launched Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) and ‘Chakshu’ facility on Sanchar Saathi portal (https://sancharsaathi.gov.in). Chakshu’ facilitates citizens to report suspected fraud communication received over call, SMS or WhatsApp with the intention of defrauding like KYC expiry or update of bank account / etc.
