Data shows Indian fraud cases tripled in 2024

A third of Indian fraud categorized as social engineering scams

MUMBAI (May 28, 2025) — A new report from BioCatch which prevents financial crime by recognizing patterns in human behavior, shows its Indian customers reported three times more fraud cases in 2024 than they did in 2023. This follows the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) December announcement that fraud losses in the first half of this Indian fiscal year (April 1-March 31) grew by a factor of eight to Rs 21,367 crore or $2.56 billion, from the same period the year before. That would put India on pace to lose more to fraud in 2024/2025 (Rs 43,571 crore or $5.22 billion) than in any fiscal year since 2021/2022. 

“Only 48% of fraud cases reported to the RBI between April and September of 2024 occurred during the same fiscal year,” BioCatch Director of Global Fraud Intelligence Tom Peacock said. “Those cases that did take place during this fiscal year represent just 5% of the year’s total losses. So, while that 715% increase in reported fraud losses in the first half of this fiscal year might appear to suggest a massive uptick in fraud in India, reporting delays mean we likely won’t know the true scale of India’s present fraud problem for several years.”

The report, 2025 Digital Banking Fraud Trends in India, includes deep dives on both Know Your Customer (KYC) scams enabled by recent regulatory changes, and the more than 100,000 digital arrest scams reported in India last year.

“Social engineering scams now account for nearly a third of all reported fraud in India,” BioCatch Global Advisory Director for APAC Edgar Zayas said. “As India continues its digital transformation, the battle between security enhancements and exploitation of these very systems for fraudulent purposes will likely intensify, requiring ongoing education, awareness, and technological countermeasures.”

Other key report findings:

• Reporting still lags: Nearly 90% of all fraud cases reported to RBI took place in previous fiscal years.
• Digital arrest scams rampant: The most prevalent scam type in India, digital arrest scams resulted in Rs 2,000 crore ($240 million) in estimated losses, with more than 40% of these scams originating in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos.
• Eyes on mules: Indian banks are increasingly focused on identifying mule accounts. This is made more complicated by an RBI rule requiring financial institutions in the country to receive a court order before taking action against a suspected mule account.

Click here to view the complete report.

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About BioCatch:

BioCatch prevents financial crime by recognizing patterns in human behavior, continuously collecting more than 3,000 anonymized data points – keystroke and mouse activity, touch screen behavior, physical device attributes, and more – as people interact with their digital banking platforms. With these inputs, BioCatch's machine-learning models reveal patterns in user behavior and provide device intelligence that, together, distinguish the criminal from the legitimate. The company’s Client Innovation Board – an industry-led initiative in partnership with American Express, Barclays, Citi Ventures, HSBC, National Australia Bank, and others – collaborates to pioneer innovative ways of leveraging customer relationships for improved fraud detection. Today, more than 30 of the world's largest 100 banks and 267 total financial institutions deploy BioCatch solutions, analyzing 14.9 billion user sessions per month and protecting 511 million people around the world from fraud and financial crime.

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PR contact:

Mac King
BioCatch director of global marketing communications
Mac.King@BioCatch.com