This revelation regarding UPI payment in India caused a stir, billions of rupees were defrauded in one year

Technical News Office – After the widespread use of the Internet and smartphones, the trend of digital payments has increased rapidly in India. The number of users making payments via UPI is also constantly increasing. But along with this, cases of fraud through digital payments have also increased. Indians suffered a loss of Rs 485 crore due to fraud in UPI payments in the financial year 2024-25. Finance Ministry data shows that during the financial year 2024-25, 6 lakh 32,000 fraud incidents were recorded from people through the Unified Payments Interface i.e. UPI. These figures were published until September.

At the same time, if we look at the year 2022-23 so far, there have been fraud incidents with 27 lakh people in which users have been defrauded of Rs 2,145 crore. At the same time, in 2023-24 alone, such fraud incidents occurred with more than 13 lakh people during which they suffered a loss of Rs 1,087 crore. According to the DC report, the reason behind the increase in such fraud incidents involving UPI is the increase in the number of users and total number of transactions in the real-time payment system.

The Finance Ministry told Mangalwal that India needs to strike a balance between promoting fintech innovation and ensuring regulatory compliance to prevent such frauds. In other words, depending on the degree to which innovation increases, regulatory rules must be respected. India has a rapidly growing fintech sector, one of the largest in the world. Therefore, the government also intends to continue its momentum to bring revolutionary changes in financial inclusion in various sectors.

This comment comes at a time when incidents of UPI fraud have increased by 85 percent in India this fiscal year. The ministry also highlighted that financial literacy is not only important for the tech-savvy younger generation, but it is equally important for older citizens. Ensuring regulatory security is necessary to address emerging threats such as data breaches and financial fraud, which require special measures.